Paxton makes criminal referrals to DOJ over ActBlue donations

After asking the Federal Election Commission to respond to the findings of the Texas investigation into a Democratic Party online fundraising platform, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a criminal complaint with the US Department of Justice.

After a nearly year-long investigation into ActBlue, Paxton on Monday filed a petition The FEC is asking it to implement new regulations to prevent straw donations from being made on online political fundraising platforms.

“Our investigation into ActBlue uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations,” Paxton said. “It is imperative that the FEC shut down the avenues we have identified through which foreign contributions or contributions that exceed legal limits could be illegally funneled to political campaigns, circumventing campaign finance regulations and compromising our election system. I call on the FEC to immediately begin rulemaking to secure our elections against any criminal actors who exploit these vulnerabilities.”

On Thursday, Paxton filed a criminal complaint with the DOJ based on the findings of his office’s investigation.

The OAG’s investigation “uncovered evidence showing that bad actors are likely using the ActBlue platform to make illegal campaign contributions,” he said. “It is illegal to engage in electoral fraud and it is illegal to conceal your identity in order to violate electoral rules. The Department of Justice must take immediate action to prevent illegal conduct in our elections.”

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Paxton said the OAG’s investigation uncovered alarming evidence that anonymous actors are systematically making contributions through the ActBlue platform on behalf of other people. This conduct appears to be criminal in several ways, including under 18 USC § 1343 (wire fraud); 18 USC § 1028 (identity theft); and 52 USC § 30122 (making contributions on behalf of another).”

The filing also includes a copy of Texas’ petition to the FEC.

Texas’ investigation into ActBlue began in December 2023 in response to allegations that the online platform could facilitate illegal campaign contributions. In August of this year, ActBlue responded to the findings of the Texas investigations by requiring donors who used credit cards to provide “CVV” codes. The OAG determined that this was not enough to prevent the alleged abuses it uncovered, including “straw donations that appear to have been made on a large scale using false identities, through untraceable payment methods.”

ActBlue says it has raised more than $15.8 billion online since 2004.

In the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, it says “6.9 million unique donors gave more than 31 million contributions to 18,396 campaigns and organizations, totaling more than $1.5 billion.”

“This quarter was the largest in ActBlue’s history,” it said.

Last month, US House Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. expressed concern to Treasury Secretary that ActBlue was being used to evade campaign finance laws, The Center Square reported.

The federal and Texas investigations were launched after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, demanded answers from the FEC in April 2023 about ActBlue’s “schemes to raise illegal campaign donations.”

Rubio quote reports that “numerous people, including senior citizens, have donated to ActBlue thousands of times a year,” but many “had no idea their names and addresses were being used to make thousands of dollars in political donations, most of them” donations will go to ActBlue. It should come as no surprise that ActBlue serves as a vessel for fraud given the willful lack of security embedded in their donation processes and systems.”

ActBlue argues small donations represent “a new standard for grassroots political engagement. Donors across the country have shown incredible generosity and a new sense of energy and momentum in electing Democrats up and down the ballot.”

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, disagrees, saying on Thursday, “There is now more evidence that illegal foreign donors are using the corrupt Democratic donor platform ActBlue to exploit campaign finance loopholes and make donations on behalf of people without their knowledge.”

He also launched a website, CheckMyDonation.orgallowing Americans to search their names to determine if they were used to make political donations to Democratic candidates without their knowledge.