Mark Block has been consulting for Republicans for years. So when he discovered an old email account he used for the 2012 Herman Cain presidential campaign was receiving receipts for donations to Democrat candidates like Kamala Harris, he became alarmed.
The discovery led Block -- a stalwart Republican -- and his lawyers on a journey that escalated Monday evening when he filed a groundbreaking lawsuit in the Wisconsin state courts under civil racketeering laws, alleging he is a victim of identity theft in a conspiracy to abuse the massive ActBlue fundraising platform.
That platform is designed to benefit Democrats with small donations under $200 that evade Federal Election Commission reporting requirements, the suit stated.
Block’s litigation — which called the misuse of his Personally Identifiable Information (PII) “smurfing” — mirrors allegations that the
House Administration Committee uncovered during a recent computer analysis that identified tens of thousands of suspicious donations placed through the ActBlue platform that appear to come from people who do not have the means to give large amounts of money.