Overview
- Matt DeBergalis, an ActBlue cofounder, invoked his Fifth Amendment right during a closed-door deposition before the House Administration, Judiciary, and Oversight committees on Thursday and left after roughly 25–30 minutes.
- The three House committees opened a joint inquiry into whether ActBlue’s fraud-prevention practices allowed illegal or foreign contributions to reach federal campaigns and have subpoenaed current and former employees.
- ActBlue’s chief executive, Regina Wallace-Jones, previously pleaded the Fifth in June during public congressional questioning about the same probe.
- The Justice Department is conducting a separate review into whether the platform adequately policed fraudulent or foreign donations, and ActBlue has publicly denied any legal violations.
- ActBlue is a major Democratic fundraising hub that processed hundreds of millions in recent quarters, and the inquiries could carry legal exposure for the company and political consequences for campaigns that rely on its platform.