The FBI is raiding a Soros-backed Ohio voter advocacy group in an alleged fraud investigation
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Federal investigators raided a Soros-funded voter advocacy group on Thursday as part of an ongoing fraud investigation.
FBI agents raided the headquarters of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) on June 11 and have been sweeping the country questioning members of the organization, sometimes with subpoenas or seizing electronic equipment, MS Now reports. A day later, multiple sources familiar with the events told CBS News that the operations were part of a fraud-related investigation.
The raids mark the latest milestone in the Trump administration’s expanded use of federal law to investigate allegations of voter fraud and election-related misconduct, a push that has been cheered by conservatives who have long argued that such cases are not enforced and condemned by Democrats and voting rights groups who say efforts to turn the FBI registry into a political tool.
OOC is a non-profit organization that works closely with the Democratic Party of Ohio in voter engagement and registration efforts. It is very active in voting referendums, tapping its large donor network that includes the Soros family philanthropies, to do so.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference about the Trump administration’s fraud as he is flanked by federal and state officials in Ohio on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (WBNS via NNS)
The Justice Department declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.
“The search warrants are approved by a judge and anything said by any party or others in the media is unfounded speculation, as the target of any investigation is not related to the search warrant until after the indictment,” a DOJ official told Fox News Digital.
A voter fills out a mail-in ballot at the Board of Elections office in the Allegheny County Office Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 3, 2022. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
The group previously spent $250,000 in 2023 to oppose a GOP-led effort to block the right to abortion from being preserved in the Ohio constitution and spent another $300,000 against a Republican re-ban effort a year later.
OOC funds these costs by tapping a deep network of high-level liberal donors.
Recent tax filings show the organization had more than $10 million in revenue by 2024. Major financial resources for the OOC are provided by high-profile Democratic Alliance donors, including the Soros family philanthropies, the New Venture Fund and the Tides Foundation as well as unions such as the American Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees International Union.
The Soros Family Foundation to Promote Open Society gave the OOC about 1.9 million dollars between 2019 and 2020. In 2021, the Open Society Action Fund gave an additional $1 million to OOC’s sister organization, the Ohio Organizing Campaign, followed by another $1 million donation in 2023.
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The OOC cited federal scrutiny as an example of Trump’s political manipulation of the justice system.
“How can they disrupt and intimidate civil rights leaders and voters and community leaders who help people register to vote, and make a national spectacle of it?” Prentiss Haney, an OOC board member authorized to discuss the matter on behalf of the group, told MS Now. “That’s why they chose to do that, they did it now, during the contested political elections in the state. There is no other reason. They have no proof of that.”
The OOC previously faced controversy in 2017 when a paid campaigner working with the group pleaded guilty to his involvement in a fake voter registration campaign. Republicans, however, have yet to produce conclusive evidence of widespread voter fraud in recent election cycles.
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The Ohio State Capitol building is located in Columbus, Ohio. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group)
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OOC did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.
