WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (WI-01) sent a letter to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Treasury Department, requesting a series of answers on how the agency is combatting potential illicit election funding, particularly from foreign actors, and to request a briefing on the steps the agency is taking to rectify these problems.

"I write to you to raise an urgent concern regarding potential illicit election funding, possibly by foreign actors," Chairman Steil wrote in the letter. "Negligent identity security practices involving the use of credit, prepaid, and gift cards for political donations could enable bad actors to circumvent laws meant to protect the integrity of our elections."

Chairman Steil emphasized the agency's responsibility to investigate this issue, writing, "Various types of financial institutions are involved in facilitating these transactions. It is imperative that they have the tools to avoid facilitating illicit activity and that FinCEN is closely tracking potential abuses."

Read the full letter here.

Background:

On Monday, August 5, Chairman Steil announced he was expanding his investigation into major Democratic fundraising platform, ActBlue, after whistleblowers and public reports raised concerns about potential violations of federal campaign finance laws. 

That same day, Chairman Steil sent a letter to the FEC requesting it initiate an emergency rulemaking proceeding to require political campaigns to verify online donors' CVV and to prohibit political committees from accepting online contributions from gift cards or other pre-paid credit and debit cards.
 
On September 20, 2023, Chairman Steil held the first full committee oversight hearing with the Federal Election Commission in over a decade. 

On October 31, 2023 Chairman Steil sent a letter demanding answers on ActBlue's practices, questioning if they are complying with federal campaign finance laws and preventing foreign and illegal contributions. In response, ActBlue confirmed that it did not require a CVV to donate on the platform. 

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