House asks five states to probe possible illegal 'straw' donations to Democrats via ActBlue

The powerful chairman of the House committee that oversees election integrity is asking five states to open investigations into “potential criminal activity” in the routing of hundreds of millions of dollars in political donations to Kamala Harris and other Democrats through the fundraising platform known as ActBlue.

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., made five referrals on Wednesday evening to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, saying a massive computer analysis conducted by his committee uncovered a suspicious pattern of donations from individuals with net worths too small to donate what has been credited to them via ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission.

“This investigation focused on potential unlawful exploitation of unwitting ‘straw donors,’ whose identities may have been used to  channel illicit funds into campaigns in your state,” Steil wrote the top law enforcement officials in the five states.

“The final analysis produced a set of anomalous donor profiles, ranked by the severity of the inconsistencies. In reviewing this analysis, it became clear there is suspicious activity occurring that warrants further review,” he  added.

"Straw donors" are donors who are either given money by others to donate to federal candidates or whose identity is misused by others to make donations to evade federal campaign contribution limits.

The Democrat Party was rocked by a straw donation scandal under Bill Clinton three decades ago when Congress and federal prosecutors confirmed wealthy businessmen tied to China routed millions to straw donors during the 1996 election. That scandal, dubbed China Gate, led to a major congressional probe and a few dozen convictions.

Steil's letters stop short of accusing any group or individual of breaking the law but rather refer evidence to the attorneys generals of patterns they say resembles illegal conduct. The letters included records of thousands of donations that the committee believed looked suspicious in each state.

“This investigation has exposed potential criminal activity that should be investigated by an appropriate law enforcement agency, such as your office,” he wrote in the letters. “The enclosed data provides detailed donor records to
facilitate this process.”

You can read the letters here: 

In a separate statement to Just the News, Steil said he expected the data he sent to the attorneys general could prompt meaningful investigations.

"When I became the Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I made a commitment that election integrity and security would be a top priority,” the chairman said. "Through our investigation into ActBlue and the reported campaign finance law violations, we upheld our commitment to the American people to increase transparency in our elections.

"I have faith that the five Attorneys General will build their investigations off the great work our Committee has done, and I look forward to seeing their findings."

ActBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Just the News. But the massive fund-raising platform has steadfastly denied wrongdoing and promised to cooperate with ongoing investigations of its business, including by some of the attorneys general.

In December 2023, for instance, Texas' Paxton opened an investigation into ActBlue after alleging that the organization was conducting fraudulent activity regarding donations. In August of this year, Virginia's Miyares also demanded answers from ActBlue after allegations of fraud were impacting Virginia.

Paxton recently announced he reached an agreement in which ActBlue would begin using CVV codes when accepting all donations. CVVs are the three-digit security number on the back of credit and debit cards, and are key security provisions for preventing fraud.

Steil has been pushing legislation, titled H.R. 9488, which would require the disclosure of the card verification value and increase safeguards for online campaign donations. 

The legislation also prohibits "aiding or abetting" making campaign contributions in the name of someone else. 

Steil said his probe was aided by information from campaign finance "whistleblowers" and received help from multiple federal agencies as well as "experts in money laundering, credit card fraud, and terrorism finance."

His letter described how his staff's computer analysis reviewed "over 200 million FEC records spanning the last 14 years" and "compared donation patterns to open-source consumer data, voter rolls and political profiling databases, with an emphasis on identifying suspicious trends."

The chairman cited three specific concerning trends:

• Donations significantly disproportionate to an individual’s net worth or previous giving history.
• Uncharacteristic donations from party-affiliated registered voters suddenly contributing to candidates of the opposing party.
• Unusually frequent donations from elderly individuals or first-time donors.