A North Carolina man says a left-wing fundraising group appears to have made political donations in his name to Democrats in Kansas – where he has no ties and when he’s never donated to any candidate before.
“I am still waiting for someone to help me understand why DOZENS of donations were made in my name, to Act Blue Democrat candidates in KANSAS,” Matt Swol posted on X Sunday, “when I’ve never been to Kansas, nor ever knowingly donated to any political candidate in my entire life
“What is going on???!!!!”
Swol’s post, which potentially reaches over 400,000 followers, included a chart showing contributions purportedly from him in 2020 to nine Kansas Democratic candidates. While each amount was just $2, making any political contribution in someone else’s name is a crime, and a likely ploy to spread out donations to avoid detection as well as contribution limits.
“So is THIS how Democrats raise millions of those ‘small dollar’ donations???” he added in a post Monday. “They just use random people’s names (like mine) and funnel millions of dollars through tiny $2 donations?!
“HOW IS THIS NOT MASSIVE FRAUD?!!!”
Truth is, it is.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last year made a criminal referral on Democratic Party online fundraising platform ActBlue to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In addition, Kansas Rep. Derek Schmidt’s office notes in an email to The Heartlander that “three House committees – Judiciary, Oversight, and Administration – have an ongoing investigation into ActBlue.”
“Altogether,” the three committees wrote in a 478-page joint report in April, “ActBlue’s internal documents and communications paint a damning picture: despite repeated instances of fraudulent donations to Democrat campaigns and causes from domestic and foreign sources, ActBlue is not demonstrating a serious effort to deter fraud on its platform.
“At best, ActBlue’s conduct displays a profound disrespect for the principle that only Americans should decide American elections. At worst, it may violate the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA), which states that persons who “knowingly accept a contribution made by one person in the name of another person” may face criminal liability.”
In an accompanying press release, the committees alleged that “ActBlue executives and staff are aware that both foreign and domestic fraudulent actors are exploiting the platform but do not take the threat seriously.”
Moreover, the committees reported, despite the scrutiny and likely fraud on its platform, “ActBlue made its fraud-prevention rules ‘more lenient’ twice in 2024” and “attempted to hide the changes to avoid sparking discussions about fraud on the platform.”
“This is MASSIVE fraud and should be IMMEDIATELY investigated,” Swol also posted Monday. “Everyone reading this, please go to: https://opensecrets.org/donor-lookup. And search your name, you can see if this is happening to you too. If it is, please tag or @ me in your post.”
