Report: ActBlue Employees Plead the Fifth over 100 Times During House Depositions

SOMERVILLE, MA - NOVEMBER 13: Employees work at ActBlue in Somerville, MA on Nov. 13, 2018
Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Current and former employees of the Democrat fundraising machine, ActBlue, reportedly pleaded the Fifth more than 100 times while testifying before several House committees.

In a press release, it was revealed that the House Judiciary Committee, House Administration Committee, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report titled, “Fraud on ActBlue, Part II: Illicit Foreign Donations and a Cover-up Sour Mass Resignations and Firings on ActBlue’s Legal and Compliance Team.”

The press release revealed that the “five current or former employees at ActBlue who appeared for depositions all invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination during questioning – for a total of 146 times.”

“The Committees conducted five depositions with key ActBlue fraud-prevention and legal personnel to obtain more information about the fraud-prevention failures detailed in the Committees’ first report and the cover-up detailed here,” the report says. “The employees invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to every single one of the Committees’ substantive questions—146 times in total. Their unwillingness to testify only amplifies the Committees’ concerns.”

The 120-page report explains that the three House committees “are charged with ensuring the integrity of American elections,” adding that the committees “are examining allegations that ActBlue, a leading political fundraising organization, allowed bad actors, including foreign actors, to exploit its online platform to make fraudulent political donations.”

The report continues in part to explain:

On April 2, 2025, the Committees published a staff report detailing initial findings from our investigation into ActBlue’s fraud-prevention practices. Internal documents produced to the Committees by ActBlue and its fraud-prevention contractor, Sift, “reflect a fundamentally unserious approach to fraud prevention at ActBlue—one that has left the door open for large scale fraud campaigns on Democrats’ top fundraising platform.” The Committees’ oversight has found that ActBlue, in its own words, decided to take “a more lenient approach” to fraud prevention in 2024, weakening its fraud-prevention policies at least twice even though internal assessments showed that these changes would result in a measurable increase in fraudulent contributions. Similarly, internal trainings directed ActBlue’s fraud-prevention team to “look for reasons to accept contributions” rather than examine them closely for indicators of fraud—as required by federal regulation. ActBlue took this lax approach to fraud prevention even though it has detected at least 22 significant fraud campaigns on the platform in recent years, including several from foreign sources.

After the Committee’s investigation began, the New York Times reported that at least seven senior staff members, including ActBlue’s “highest-ranking legal officer,” resigned from or were fired by the platform in early 2025. The Times also reported that the last remaining lawyer on ActBlue’s legal team, Zain Ahmad, went “on leave” and had his access to internal systems revoked in late February 2025. Ahmad reportedly claimed that he had been retaliated against by ActBlue staff for blowing the whistle on internal misconduct. On April 2, 2025, the Committees requested documents and communications from ActBlue related to this staff turmoil and alleged retaliation. After ActBlue suspended its voluntary cooperation with the Committees’ oversight in June 2025, the Committees issued subpoenas for these documents and communications on July 22.

The report continues to share that “documents produced to the Committees’ subpoenas” show that employees from ActBlue’s legal and compliance team left the company after the 2024 presidential election. The employees reportedly knew of the platform’s “acceptance of illegal foreign contributions, and the subsequent cover-up.”

“By March 2025, every member of ActBlue’s legal and compliance team resigned, was fired, or went on extended leave,” the report says.

The New York Post reported that “an unidentified ActBlue senior workflow specialist managing fraud prevention,” and Alyssa Twomey, the former vice president of customer service, were issued subpoenas in June 2025.

Several other people, such as Darrin Hurwitz, who previously served as the general counsel for ActBlue, and Zain Ahmad, a former lawyer for ActBlue’s legal team, received “subpoenas in September 2025,” according to the outlet.

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