Report Suggests ActBlue Misled Congress On Foreign Donation Safeguards

By Brianna Lyman | The Federalist

ActBlue told Congress in 2023 that it took “multilayered” steps to “root out” illegal donations from foreign citizens. But it turns out “some of the steps … described were not always followed,” according to a new report from The New York Times (NYT).

ActBlue Chief Executive Regina Wallace-Jones claimed in a 2023 letter to Congress that ActBlue conducted “‘multilayered’ screenings of contributions that helped ‘root out’ those from overseas,” the New York Times reported. Such screening claimed to have included processing donations that came from foreign mailing addresses only if the donor had a U.S. passport number. Wallace-Jones also reportedly told Congress that ActBlue would refund donations to those who did not provide a passport number.

But Covington & Burling, the firm then representing ActBlue, found “some of the steps [Wallace-Jones] had described were not always followed.” As The Times reported, citing a memo Covington sent to ActBlue, donors who used Apple Pay, PayPal or Venmo were not asked to provide their passport information.

Covington warned there was “a substantial risk that some of the funds received were impermissible contributions from foreign nationals.” It is illegal for noncitizens and people who are not permanent residents to donate to federal candidates or PACs.

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