A famed Republican strategist is taking legal action against ActBlue, accusing the Democratic fundraising platform of facilitating identity theft to make hundreds of unauthorized donations. Mark Block, who served as chief of staff to Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in 2012 and was made internet famous after a “smoking man” advertisement, claims someone used his identity to make over $880 in donations between May and October without his approval.
Block directly accuses ActBlue of allowing a “smurfing” scheme. This involves keeping small contributions deliberately below a $200 threshold to bypass Federal Election Commission (FEC) reporting rules, violating federal election laws.
The lawsuit, filed in Waukesha County Court, alleges the donations constitute “racketeering activity” under Wisconsin law. Block has requested a temporary injunction to prevent further donations in his name. Block discovered the unauthorized contributions through receipts found in an email account associated with the Cain campaign. He notes numerous donations to Kamala Harris‘s campaign efforts and the LGBTQ-focused Equality PAC.
“Given [Block’s conservative] political leanings, he would never consent to monetary contributions to any of the ActBlue Campaigns,” the lawsuit notes, insisting he did not “make, authorize, or consent to these donations to the ActBlue Campaigns.”
The Republican-led House Committee on House Administration is already conducting a broader investigation into money laundering through ActBlue. Committee experts utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to scrutinize over 200 million FEC records and identified suspicious patterns. These include multiple small donations and contributions exceeding the financial capacity of purported donors.
The lawsuit cites an unidentified “John Doe” who allegedly used an American Express card linked to a Santa Monica address to make fraudulent donations with Block’s personal information. This case may be the first of several, as similar investigations commence in various states.
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