Texas AG Paxton urges FEC to ban straw donations after investigation into Dems ActBlue platform

(The Center Square) – A nearly year-long investigation into ActBlue, a Democratic Party online donation platform, alleges a large number of suspicious donations have been made, resulting in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioning the Federal Election Commission to get involved.On Monday, Paxton petitioned the FEC to consider implementing new regulations to prevent straw donations from being made on online political fundraising platforms.Since launching the investigation, Paxton said it’s been publicly reported that potentially fraudulent transactions have occurred on political committee online platforms.“Certain platforms appear to facilitate straw donor transactions, where a contributor disguises his identity by attributing his contribution to another, unaware person,” the petition states.Alleged straw donations are being made through the use of prepaid credit cards, which he says “are a favorite tool of fraudsters.”Paxton’s office launched an investigation into ActBlue in December to determine if the platform’s operations were compliant with all applicable laws.In response to the investigation, Act Blue implemented a new measure in August requiring donors using credit cards to provide “CVV” codes.

Paxton says this alone isn’t enough to prevent straw political donations from being made.The OAG’s investigation says it found a large number of suspicious donations that were made “through obscured identities and untraceable means,” necessitating FEC action.Through the use of prepaid cards it “appears that straw donations are systematically being made using false identities, through untraceable payment methods,” Paxton said.Texas’ FEC petition includes partially redacted findings from the OAG’s investigation and recommends that the FEC implement regulations to close fundraising loopholes “that jeopardize American election integrity.” The FEC previously considered implementing such regulations, which ActBlue vocally oppose...