Wisconsin Judge Issues Ruling Against ActBlue

(Dreamstime)

By    |   Tuesday, 03 December 2024 09:16 AM EST ET

A Wisconsin judge has approved a subpoena requiring a prominent leftist fundraising platform to turn over certain documents in a widening fraud investigation.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad D. Schimel ordered ActBlue to hand over a limited number of records after a Republican's email identity was used to make liberal donations he did not authorize.

"Something is not right," Schimel said, Just The News reported.

Schimel permitted Republican consultant Mark Block and lawyers from America First Policy Institute to conduct discovery to determine if fraud was involved in the use of his identity to make dozens of Democrat donations on his old email address.

Block, a chief of staff and campaign manager for the late Herman Cain, filed a racketeering lawsuit Oct. 14 in Wisconsin against ActBlue, accusing the group of stealing his identity to make 385 donations to left-wing causes, including Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential PAC.

ActBlue had tried to convince the judge that it was overly burdensome to require it to comply with a subpoena for third-party donations it processed on its platform.

"I get the argument that this is an assumption on plaintiff's part that the donations are fraudulent," Schimel said during a Nov. 21 hearing.

"There may be an element of fraud or maybe it is innocent. Plaintiff has set forth enough in their complaint and in support of their subpoena to demonstrate that there may be something here."

The judge approved an amended subpoena aimed to ascertain how the donations using Block's email addresses were paid. He rejected a broader subpoena sought by Block's lawyers that would have required ActBlue to disclose how it guards against fraud.

ActBlue's lawyers argued that it is not responsible for a man using the name Bernard Cain using Block's email address from California and Colorado.

Schimel noted that Block's lawyers had submitted evidence from investigators of other people who are listed as giving donations to ActBlue who claim they did not make such contributions.

"I don't get why there is — why that is causing such substantial resistance to sharing it," the judge said of the data being sought by Block, Just The News reported.

ActBlue also is being probed by Congress and 19 attorneys general.

In October, Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., chair of the Committee on House Administration, issued a subpoena to ActBlue, the fundraising platform used by Democrats to collect donations for Harris.

Steil accused ActBlue as being used as a front to launder money, according to a release.

House investigators are examining whether entities from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China may have directed funds to support Democrat campaigns in 2024 through ActBlue.

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A Wisconsin judge has approved a subpoena requiring a prominent leftist fundraising platform to turn over certain documents in a widening fraud investigation.
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Tuesday, 03 December 2024 09:16 AM
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