BREAKING: Did Money-Laundering Help Democrats Win Virginia in 2024?

Part of an investigative series on ActBlue

Restoration News has identified nearly $738,000 in campaign contributions benefiting Virginia Democrats in 2024—including Kamala Harris and Sen. Tim Kaine—from 18 potential victims of identity theft called “smurfs,” all connected to the progressive fundraising organization ActBlue. 

These new revelations come amidst an ongoing investigation launched in October by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and a coalition of attorneys general over ActBlue’s alleged money-laundering schemes. 

It also matches a pattern of evidence Restoration News has uncovered aiding Democrats in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In each state, we identified “smurf” donors, individuals reported in FEC filings as contributing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars across thousands of contributions in 2023 and 2024. These individuals are typically age 60+, but some are in their 90s.

“Smurfing” involves repackaging large sums of money into smaller individual transactions that are less likely to attract legal scrutiny. For example, one likely smurf in Lorton, Virginia, who contributed more than $15,000 to Democrats through ActBlue across 1,010 individual contributions—the largest of which was just $250.

In total, Restoration News identified 18 possible smurfs who contributed an astonishing $737,614 to Virginia Democrats through ActBlue in 2023–24. While not all of the recipients have been identified, Kaine a received 1,162 donations from the list of 18 smurfs totaling $28,754, while Harris received 675 donations totaling $28,473.

In each instance, the largest individual donation was usually only a few hundred dollars; some were less than $100. Only five of the suspected smurfs made individual contributions of $1,000 or more. 

The most glaring instance of smurfing in Virginia we’ve discovered comes from is a Harris-Kaine donor in Cincinnati, Ohio, who contributed $195,559 to ActBlue—but whose largest contribution was just $2,800. 

Part of a Larger Strategy?

The smurfing phenomenon may suggest a larger strategy by ActBlue to avoid financial scrutiny.

ActBlue, which was founded in 2009 to benefit Democrat candidates and political groups, consists of a network of groups that can funnel money to political action committees (PACs), 501(c)(3) charities, and 501(c)(4) advocacy organizations.

That structure may help split up larger contributions from well-known donors, such as leftist billionaire George Soros to close races. That may have mattered less in Virginia, which Harris won by 5 points over Trump, while Kaine won reelection by 10 points over Republican Hung Cao.

But in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, smurfing contributions may have made the difference in razor-thin margins. David McCormick, the Pennsylvania Republican who ousted long-time Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, won by less than 1 percent. In Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic incumbent, barely survived a vigorous challenge from Republican businessman Eric Hovde. She won by just 1 percent. 

(RELATED: 141,000 ActBlue “Smurfing” Donations to Democrats Found in Pennsylvania)

Heating Up

Last week, Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel approved a subpoena against ActBlue for a case involving a Republican who claims his email identity was stolen for the purpose of donating to liberal causes he does not support. 

The judge is permitting attorneys with America First Policy Institute who are representing the America First Policy Institute to pursue discovery to see if he was the victim of fraud. 

In Virginia, Attorney General Jason Miyares is among those leading the charge with a letter he sent to ActBlue in August detailing his concerns that ActBlue is serving as an instrument for hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations that are “facially implausible and appear suspicious.” Those allegations are in line with what Restoration News has uncovered. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also opened new avenues of inquiry after petitioning the Federal Election Commission to close off potential loopholes that might enable ActBlue to pull in “straw political donations.”

At the federal level, Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil (R), the Republican chairman of the Committee on House Administration, has sponsored the Shield Act to impose stricter requirements on campaign donations made through credit or debit cards. Steil has expressed concern over allegations that ActBlue did not require card verification value (CVV) security measures for online donations.

Steil has also partnered with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R) to investigate the possibility that foreign actors have made use of ActBlue to funnel money to Democratic campaigns. 

As of writing, Steil and Johnson have sent letters to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines pointing the finger at Iran, Russia, Venezuela and China. The congressional figures are attempting to acquire Suspicious Activity Reports involving funds that have passed through ActBlue. So is Restoration News. 

Federal law requires banks and financial institutions to file SARS when potential money laundering exercises are detected. Will the names of any those hostile foreign countries pop up? Only time will tell. 

(READ MORE: How the Federal Government Can Clean Up States’ Voter Rolls)