Overview
- Ken Paxton, who filed the state lawsuit Monday in Tarrant County, accuses ActBlue of deceiving donors and regulators about how it blocks fraudulent and foreign contributions.
- The complaint seeks a court order barring donations made with gift cards and prepaid debit cards and asks for civil penalties of $10,000 per violation with total monetary relief topping $1 million.
- Texas investigators say they sent three February test donations using prepaid gift cards and false identities that cleared to the DNC and two Texas campaigns, contradicting ActBlue’s assurances to Congress.
- A joint interim House report released the same day says five current or former ActBlue employees invoked the Fifth Amendment 146 times in depositions and alleges a lax approach to fraud prevention with at least 22 significant fraud campaigns detected, including foreign-origin activity.
- ActBlue denies wrongdoing and calls the lawsuit political, as a court fight over any injunction and Texas jurisdiction could reshape how Democrats process small-dollar gifts during the 2026 midterms while DOJ and House probes continue.