In December 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into the major fundraising platform ActBlue to determine whether ActBlue’s operations are compliant with all applicable laws. ActBlue has been the subject of numerous allegations of illicit activity, including that its platform may enable fraud. One major focus of Texas's investigation is ActBlue’s failure to require that donors provide “CVV” codes when making donations by credit card on the ActBlue platform. “CVV” codes are a commonly required security measure.
Today, the OAG issued a supplemental civil investigative demand to obtain additional information relevant to the latest allegations regarding ActBlue.
“ActBlue has cooperated with our ongoing investigation. They have changed their requirements to now include ‘CVV’ codes for donations on their platform. This is a critical change that can help prevent fraudulent donations,” said Attorney General Paxton. “But it is most important that we enforce the law and protect the integrity of our elections. Certain features of campaign finance law may incentivize bad actors to use platforms like ActBlue to covertly move money to political campaigns to evade legal requirements. While campaign finance is protected by the First Amendment, suspicious activity on fundraising platforms must be fully investigated to determine if any laws have been broken.”
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