House investigators have formally subpoenaed the Democrat donations platform ActBlue as part of its expanding probe into possible illicit foreign funding in the 2024 election. The subpoena occurred after the Treasury Department confirmed to Congress its money laundering detection system generated hundreds of suspicious activity reports related to the online fund-raising giant.
“Although Treasury has not yet produced any records, it is currently reviewing hundreds of potentially responsive records according to three video conference calls between Committee and Treasury staff since the initial request,” House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer wrote colleagues in a confidential memo Tuesday night.
Just the News reports that Comer’s committee, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil and Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., recently requested access to suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by financial institutions concerning money flowing through ActBlue, and “Treasury revealed this is one of the largest records reviews it has conducted this Congress,” according to the Comer letter obtained by Just the News and first reported by The New York Post.
Just the News adds that as Comer’s team awaited a review of the SARs, Steil’s committee sent a subpoena Wednesday afternoon to ActBlue demanding the massive fund-raising platform turn over records on how it confirms donors’ identities and endures no fraud or money laundering occurs with contributions going to Democratic candidates and groups.
“The Committee is compelling, via the attached subpoena, the production of documents and communications related to ActBlue’s donor verification policies and the potential for foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China, to use ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns,” Steil wrote in the letter to ActBlue CEO Regina-Wallace Jones.
The GOP lawmakers have asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to provide them access to any Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to monies passing through ActBlue that were filed by U.S. financial institutions as part of their money-laundering monitoring activities.
“We request that the Department make available to CHA and PSI staff all Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”) related to ActBlue, specifically regarding fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and the use of prepaid credit, debit, and gift cards in this context,” theJohnson and Steil wrote last week.
It also requested classified briefings on possible foreign money laundering into the election from U.S. intelligence and the FBI.
