Virginia attorney general demands answers about suspected ‘dummy accounts’ donating to Democrats

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares demanded answers about suspicious donor activity on ActBlue, a Democratic political action committee.

In July, conservative activists sounded the alarm on suspicious donations made through ActBlue, including some cases in which single donors made tens of thousands of separate donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Miyares said Monday that he was aware of the allegations and sent a letter to ActBlue demanding answers Friday.

In the letter, he said the organization has been accused of “fraudulent, deceptive, and/or otherwise illegal activities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and/or have aided and abetted others in doing so,” pointing to instances of “hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions through individual donors in the Commonwealth in volumes that are facially implausible and appear suspicious.”

“Taken together, these circumstances appear to indicate that contributions via ActBlue are being made from fictional donors or dummy accounts, or that information reported by or through ActBlue may be fraudulent,” Miyares wrote. “Alternatively, these circumstances may indicate that contributions via ActBlue are being made without the reported donors’ consent or awareness. Accordingly, these contributions and ActBlue’s facilitation thereof may violate multiple provisions of Virginia charitable and criminal law.”

Miyares requested that ActBlue send his office a detailed description of the group’s “processes and procedures for verifying the legitimacy and accuracy of donor and contribution information as well as the processes and procedures used in verifying information reported to regulatory bodies.”

“Given the seriousness of these allegations, I expect to receive your substantive response by August 12, 2024,” he added.

Virginia was one of several states where suspicious donations were uncovered.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) sounded the alarm over possible fraud from ActBlue in April 2023, demanding an investigation from the Federal Electoral Commission.

“It should come as no surprise that ActBlue serves as a vessel for fraud, considering the intentional lack of security engrained within their donation processes and systems,” he said.