South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson recently launched an inquiry into whether a major fundraising platform for the Democratic Party committed fraud. In August, Wilson outlined allegations against the Massachusetts-based organization ActBlue, a platform that processes donations to various Democratic campaigns. According to Wilson, the organization has engaged in “highly suspicious” activity.
As background, ActBlue serves as a pass-through, directing online donations to candidates for a percentage fee. The South Carolina attorney general claimed the organization may have split large donations into smaller donations to skirt campaign limits, comparing it to a “smurfing” money laundering scheme. Wilson also suggested there may have been “straw donors” making donations on behalf of others.
Wilson wrote in a letter that his office had found instances of South Carolina donors making a “highly suspicious” and “implausible” number of contributions. While the attorney general made no direct accusations, he requested more information from ActBlue to verify the donor information and investigate the suspicious activity.
“Alarmingly, some of these individuals list their occupations as ‘unemployed’ or report jobs that could not be reasonably commensurate to the total amount of financial contributions made by others in similar positions,” Wilson said in his letter. “The allegations also raise the question of whether contributions were made without the reported donors’ consent or awareness, which is equally troubling.”
In a recent statement, an ActBlue spokesperson did not directly address Wilson’s letter but maintained that the platform adheres to strict anti-fraud policies. “We are aware of recent attempts to spread misinformation about our platform,” the spokesperson said. “These false so-called ‘allegations’ are intentionally designed to mislead the public.”
Furthermore, South Carolina Democratic leaders also pushed back against Wilson. “It’s all reported. It’s all there. There’s no way to do straw donors,” Jay Parmley, state executive director for the Democratic party told the South Carolina Gazette. “[Wilson] would rather make a stupid point that has no basis in fact than doing a little bit of research.” Parmely added, “This is not going to go anywhere, but (Wilson is) going to try and confuse the electorate, make people think there’s something wrong.”
“It has come to my attention that these alleged activities may include ‘smurfing,’ a money laundering technique where large sums of money are ‘donated’ to a political candidate (or committee), and are broken down through smaller, less conspicuous amounts. Based on publicly accessible information, some individual donors in South Carolina have purportedly donated funds through ActBlue in prolific volumes that appear implausible and highly suspicious,” Attorney General Wilson said in the letter.
"*" indicates required fields
“South Carolinians are entitled to transparency and the assurance that nonprofit and political entities are financed legally. Any deviation from this transparency undermines the integrity of our elections and political processes. And as the chief legal officer in South Carolina, it is my duty to ensure unequivocal compliance with the law,” he wrote to the CEO of ActBlue. Regina Wallace Jones.
Watch Ilhan Omar claim the U.S. is entering a “dictatorship” below:
Sharing a more concise message, Wilson took to Facebook in late August, outlining his goals with the inquiry. “I’m demanding answers from ActBlue, a fundraising source for Democrats and liberal causes, after reports surfaced alleging suspicious, if not fraudulent, contributions are being made through their platform,” he wrote.