The GOP is currently investigating whether or not crowdfunding giants like Eventbrite and GoFundMe were among the companies allegedly pressured into “snooping” on customers’ private transactions by the Biden administration in search of extremists.
According to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote to executives at both companies and asked them to provide any communications with the FBI and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, noting that FinCEN asked banks to flag “MAGA” and “TRUMP” transactions following the January 6, 2021 breach at the U.S. Capitol.
Jordan went on to note that FinCEN emailed different financial institutions like Eventbrite and Anedot to explain how to use a “transaction reference” to identify customers making certain transactions. FinCEN reportedly asked banks to identify transactions of Trump supporters, as well as others who purchased religious texts or visited outdoor stores like Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops.
In a letter to GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan, Jordan said FinCEN alerted others to customers’ use on Eventbrite and said, “people have been observed using this site to post an event and sell tickets including bus tickets to [the Jan. 6] demonstrations.”
“Despite these transactions having no apparent nexus to criminal activity — and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their First Amendment rights — FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors,” Jordan wrote. “This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with federal law enforcement, without legal process, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious concerns about the federal government’s potential abuses of Americans’ fundamental civil liberties.”
An Eventbrite spokesperson told The Washington Times that they were never contacted by FinCEN.
“After we received the letter and request for information from Rep. Jordan, Eventbrite conducted an extensive search of its email and file systems,” the spokesperson said. “We have found no record of being contacted by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Our team will comply with legal requests when necessary in the course of investigations and thank Rep. Jordan for his request.”
