House committees threaten subpoena over no-show ActBlue official in fundraiser fraud probe

The three House committees leading the probe into Democratic-aligned fundraising platform ActBlue have threatened a former lead official in the company with a subpoena to appear for testimony about the company’s fraud prevention practices. 

"On August 1, you expressed your intent to cooperate with the Committees’ oversight and appear for a transcribed interview once you retained counsel,” House Administration committee Chairman Bryan Steil, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, and House Oversight Chairman James Comer wrote in a letter Friday. “To date, however, you have failed to comply with the Committees’ request.”

The former official, who is identified as the “Former Senior Total Rewards Specialist” for ActBlue, is believed by the committee heads to possess knowledge about “reported internal misconduct and whistleblower retaliation” at the fundraising platform. 

You can read the letter below:

In March, at least seven senior officials resigned from the fundraising giant as it came under scrutiny from House Republicans over concerns about the company’s fraud prevention policies. One remaining lawyer at the company also alleged that he faced internal retaliation, the New York Times reported. 

Earlier this year, the committee subpoenaed ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones for documents related to its probe.

They soon discovered that the platform, which is used by hundreds of Democratic campaigns and progressive causes, had accepted possibly fraudulent donations from domestic and foreign sources, in part, because of policy changes during the 2024 campaign cycle that relaxed verification for credit or gift card donations, Just the News previously reported. 

According to internal company documents reviewed by the committees, during the 2024 campaign cycle, ActBlue issued new standards encouraging staff to “look for reasons to accept contributions.” Before the policy change, the platform already failed to require CVV numbers for credit card transactions, increasing fraud risks.

An internal assessment by the company determined the policy change led to “between 14 and 28 additional fraudulent contributions each month,” the committees said.

The documents also show the platform began monitoring potential fraudulent donations from several foreign sources, including hundreds of donations from Brazil, Colombia, India, Iraq, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, and other countries.

ActBlue has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and says that it is fully cooperating with ongoing investigations. 

The platform has acknowledged to Congress that it has updated its donor verification policy to automatically reject donations that “use foreign prepaid/gift cards, domestic gift cards, are from high-risk/sanctioned countries, and have the highest level of risk as determined,” by its solution provider, Sift.