Political ‘smurfing’: Probe of alleged Democrat fundraising corruption expands to 19 states

An investigation into allegations of corruption in the Democrats’ fundraising industry across America now is expanding to 19 states, according to a report from Just the News.

WND reported weeks ago that an investigation had been launched into the activities of ActBlue, the billion-dollar fundraising industry that exists to pay for the Democrats’ agenda in America.

It boasts of having raised $14 billion for Democrats since 2004.

Earlier, it was the Post-Millennial that explained the attorney general for the state of Virginia is reviewing allegations the Democrat money machine “has thousands of donations registered under stolen identities and names.”

My office is aware of these allegations and rest assured, we are looking into it. https://t.co/BD13tYYtzH

— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) July 29, 2024

Now the report from Just the News explains the review of the fundraising schemes is expanding into 19 states.

Attorneys general from across the nation are demanding the company answer questions about security practices and more.

Among the issues involved are whether Democrats are using ActBlue to launder foreign money or create donations in people’s names without their permission, a scheme known as “straw donations.”

A letter from multiple state attorneys general informed ActBlue chief Regina Wallace-Jones about security issues with the platform that “could be allowing donations made in people’s names who didn’t donate.”

Their letter warned, “Recent reporting suggests that that [sic] there may be donors across the country who are identified in filings with the Federal Election Commission as having donated to candidates through ActBlue (and other affiliated entities), but who did not actually make those donations.”

The result is “a host of concerns about whether ActBlue’s platform is being used to facilitate ‘smurfing’ – a type of money laundering in which donors break up large donations and submit them under different names to disguise who the money comes from and thereby skirt contribution limits in violation of state and federal law.”

The evidence of nefarious actions isn’t hard to find, the letter explained, as “Independent investigations have shown that there are donors across the country who show up on FEC filings as having donated to candidates through ActBlue (and other affiliated entities) but deny having made those donations.”

The state legal officers explained they have concerns “about where those dollars came from.”

ActBlue officials have claimed there is no wrongdoing, and they are cooperating.

But the attorneys’ general point out the issues involve both civil and criminal offenses.

“Just the News has confirmed some Americans who believe their names have been misused to make donations for others are contemplating a private lawsuit while Congress is trying to determine whether federally regulating financial institutions have reported any suspicious transactions flowing through ActBlue’s platform or its clients,” the report said.

Officials from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming backed the concerns originally raised by officials from Iowa and Indiana.

The fundraising behemoth claimed in a statement it “rigorously” protects donor information and works to prevent fraud

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., already has raised specific concerns with authorities in at least five states.

Steil explained an analysis done 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.

For example, some people reported as unemployed have “donated” to Democrats sums totaling six digits.

Steil said, “The real big concern here is that because these donations are made online, they could be coming from anywhere across the globe. Gone are the days where individuals would engage in illegal behavior with cash. Now we can do this online.”

Earlier, commentator and personality Charlie Kirk said online, that “It’s trivially easy to find massive, repeated donations to ActBlue that use stolen identities and, quite possibly, stolen credit cards.”

At issue then was a 79-year-old resident living in an apartment at $2,000 a month was “recorded” as having made 22,619 separate donations since 2019.

Totaling more than $800,000.

Kirk, founder of TPUSA, said that “donor,” “obviously (is) being exploited for some kind of money-laundering operation.”

He called for action to investigate and prosecute as needed.