A new state law now forbids New York businesses from turning up their noses at cash — although hundreds of city shops continue to go cashless, while others are using creative ways to skirt the mandate.
The new law falls in lockstep with one the Big Apple has had in place for years, to varying degrees of success.
Businesses across the state can no longer refuse cash.RomanR – stock.adobe.com
State Attorney General Letitia James last week issued a consumer alert reminding people that stores throughout the state must allow them to pay in cash — meaning credit card-only shops are now illegal.
Stores can also not charge more for customers who choose to pay with cash instead of plastic, mirroring a similar law that has been in effect in New York City since 2020.
Nearly 500 summonses have been handed out by the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection since it started doling out punishments in 2021.
Almost all of the offenders have been in Manhattan, which racked up 371 summonses in the past six years.
Brooklyn was issued 107 in the same timeframe, while Queens received 15, and the Bronx had two.
Staten Island has received none.
But plenty of businesses are also skirting the rule without punishment through a loophole in the Big Apple law.
Many sports venues, such as Madison Square Garden, have used “reverse ATMs” to skirt the rule.Christopher Sadowski
Shops can provide a “reverse ATM” on premises that will convert the cash into a temporary card worth the same amount without requiring an additional fee.
Venues such as Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium have been using that process for years.
UBS Arena in Nassau County on Long Island has also had the special ATMs in place since it opened in 2021.
The law allows businesses to refuse cash if they have reverse ATMs on the premises and do not implement a fee for their use.
State Attorney General Letitia James implemented the statewide law last week.Paul Martinka for New York Post
The only time a business can refuse cash is for orders made over the phone or through the mail or if a customer pays with bills over $20.
“New Yorkers have a right to service no matter how they choose to pay,” James said in a statement.
“Businesses cannot deny New Yorkers access to necessities like food and clothing by refusing to take cash, or charging shoppers more for paying in cash. I will not hesitate to enforce this law to protect consumers across our state.”
Leaders of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Administration Committees in a joint statement on Thursday said The New York Times’ bombshell report on the Democratic fundraising platform “raises serious questions about whether ActBlue’s CEO intentionally misled Congress” during a more than two-year investigation.
ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones had informed House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) in a November 2023 letter that her platform conducted “multilayered” screenings to “root out” any potential donations coming from abroad.
Republican committee chairmen blasted a top Democratic fundraising official on Thursday after an explosive New York Times report indicated she misled them about ActBlue’s safeguards against foreign donations.
But the law firm Covington & Burling, which was employed by ActBlue, revealed in memos to the online fundraising platform that it was at “substantial risk” of receiving foreign contributions due to changes in its vetting standards, The Times reported.
Lawyers also suggested that any attempt to conceal information about prevention efforts aimed at stopping foreign donors from contributing to Democratic campaigns could result in a criminal probe.
“The New York Times unfortunately disregarded extensive evidence we made available to them because it did not fit their desired story,” said ActBlue spokesperson De’Andra Roberts-LaBoo in a statement.
“The reality is that ActBlue CEO, Regina Wallace-Jones, never made false statements to Congress, as confirmed by several in-house and outside attorneys — including the very sources who are now offering a different story to the press.”
ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones informed House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) in a November 2023 letter that her platform conducted “multilayered” screenings to “root out” any donations coming from abroad.San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
“ActBlue is stable and stronger than ever. We have a passionate team and we’re expanding our product suite, all while continuing to break fundraising records,” the rep added.
More than half-a-dozen ActBlue senior officials resigned in late February following the Covington & Burling memos, according to The Times. The platform has helped funnel almost $19 billion to Democratic campaigns and causes since 2004.
Foreigners are barred from donating to US campaigns, and making false statements to Congress is a federal crime.
The House GOP chairmen — including Steil, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — found ActBlue used “more lenient” standards.Getty Images
The House GOP chairman — including Steil, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — found as part of their investigation that ActBlue changed its fraud policy twice during the 2024 campaign cycle, using “more lenient” standards than previous cycles.
According to internal company documents first reported by The Post, fraud-prevention standards were relaxed in April 2024 and again in September that year, meaning as much as 6.4% of donations could have flowed from illicit sources.
ActBlue also hadn’t mandated that a card verification value (CVV) be entered for debit, credit or prepaid gift card transactions until January 2024 — around halfway through the election cycle — and the newer standards still instructed employees to “look for reasons to accept contributions,” the documents showed.
The platform has helped funnel almost $19 billion to Democratic campaigns and causes since 2004 — including $46.7 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.Getty Images for HumanX Conference
Kimberly Peeler-Allen, who serves as chairwoman of ActBlue’s board of directors, told The Times that “less than 1 percent” of donations in 2024 showed signs that they originated from foreigners.
One of the memos from its legal firm also stated: “It can be alleged that ActBlue accepted and/or facilitated the acceptance of foreign-national contributions into American elections.”
“In addition, because ActBlue’s staff was aware that its system was not as robust as necessary, it could be alleged that these violations were ‘knowing and willful,’ a standard that both increases the penalties the FEC might seek and gives the Justice Department jurisdiction for a potential criminal investigation,” the memo noted.
“Our investigation found ActBlue’s internal fraud prevention measures were wholly insufficient for preventing illegal foreign campaign donations,” Steil, Comer and Jordan said in their statement.Getty Images
In other cases, ActBlue didn’t demand passport information from contributors who used Apple Pay, PayPal or Venmo for their donations.
At least 237 overseas transactions using prepaid cards were flagged, however, just between September and October 2024, according to the documents obtained by the GOP chairmen, including from Brazil, Colombia, India, Iraq, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and other nations.
“Our investigation found ActBlue’s internal fraud prevention measures were wholly insufficient for preventing illegal foreign campaign donations,” Steil, Comer and Jordan said in their statement.
President Trump signed a memo in April 2025 that led to a Department of Justice investigation into whether illicit “straw donors” or foreign funding made its way into federal election campaigns.via REUTERS
“We will continue our investigation and keep all options on the table as we seek the truth.”
The inquiry began following reports in October 2023 that the platform wasn’t forcing donors to put in their CVVs.
President Trump signed a memo in April 2025 that led to a Department of Justice investigation into whether illicit “straw donors” or foreign funding made its way into federal election campaigns.
The Abu Dhabi Media Office reported on Friday that an Egyptian national was killed in the attack on the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) Habshan gas facilities that caused two fires to break out.
According to the authorities, the person died while trying to evacuate from the site, while two other Egyptian nationals and two Pakistani nationals suffered minor injuries. The gas facilities sustained "significant" damage, with the assessment still ongoing.
The gas site previously halted its operations after falling debris from the air defense systems' interception caused a fire to break out. The authorities also previously reported that the falling debris in the Ajban area injured seven Nepali nationals and five Indian nationals.
US lawmakers unveiled legislation that seeks to crack down on exports of chipmaking tools to China, especially from allies including the Netherlands and Japan, in a bipartisan effort to help Washington further constrain Beijing’s technology ambitions.
The draft bill, introduced in the House on Thursday, would strengthen existing restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales from firms like ASML Holding NV and Tokyo Electron Ltd. A companion version is expected to be released in the Senate later this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Democratic Party's premier fundraising machine is in serious legal jeopardy,and the new man running the Justice Department just made clear he intends to do something about it.
The New York Timesreported on Thursday that ActBlue’s own lawyers had warned its leadership in early 2025 that it may have lied to Congress about how it screens out illegal foreign donations.
In 2023, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones sent a letter to Republican congressional investigators assuring them the platform used rigorous safeguards. The letter described "multilayered" screenings that helped "root out" overseas contributions. What the platform's own legal team later discovered was considerably more inconvenient: those protections weren't consistently applied in practice.
“This presents a substantial risk for ActBlue,” the law firm, Covington & Burling, wrote in one of two memos expressing legal concerns. One memo raised the specter of a criminal investigation if prosecutors believed that ActBlue had tried to conceal facts about its efforts to prevent foreign contributions.
Federal election law prohibits foreign citizens or people who are not permanent residents from donating directly to federal candidates or political action committees. Lying to or obstructing Congress is a crime.
The memos instigated a meltdown at the highest levels of ActBlue, one of the Democratic Party’s most vital financial organs.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, freshly installed at the helm of the DOJ after Pam Bondi's departure, went on Jesse Watters' Fox News show Thursday and left little ambiguity about where this investigation stands.
“I can tell you that that is a priority of this administration and this Department of Justice,” Blanche said. “And it's something that a lot of people have been worried about it for a very long time. And you should rest assured that it includes the Department of Justice, and it includes me."
🚨 BREAKING: Todd Blanche indicates the DOJ is ACTIVELY INVESTIGATING ActBlue getting foreign donations and lying about it
"That's a priority of this admin and DOJ. People have been worried about it for a VERY long time. Rest assured it includes the DOJ, and it includes ME."… pic.twitter.com/yCGKiysWkW
The New York Postadded fuel to the fire with a separate exclusive, revealing that ActBlue changed its fraud prevention policy twice during the 2024 campaign cycle — both times in a more permissive direction. The platform modified standards in April 2024 and again in September, with the relaxed guidelines allowing more fraudulent contributions per month to slip through. Under the updated policy, up to 6.4% of total ActBlue donations that should have been rejected for fraud were instead processed without issue.
Foreign donors who paid through third-party apps like Apple Pay, PayPal, or Venmo were not asked for passport information — a significant gap in a system that ActBlue had represented to Congress as comprehensive and multi-tiered. The platform sent a follow-up letter to Congress in June 2025, claiming it had "recently implemented additional restrictions" to reject contributions from foreign countries, including those made through third-party processors.
“Did Democrats use ActBlue to funnel foreign money in American elections and then LIE to Congress about it?” Sen. Bernie Moreno asked in apost on X. “The Senate must immediately renew investigations into ActBlue, their lawyers, and their entire leadership team.”
ActBlue board chair Kimberly Peeler-Allen attempted to tamp down the story, telling the Times that "less than 1 percent" of contributions in the 2024 cycle showed signs of foreign origin. That number, however small it may sound, represents potentially millions of dollars on a platform that processed over $7 billion in the past five years. A Covington spokesman said the firm has "complete confidence in the legal advice our lawyers provided to ActBlue" — a carefully worded non-denial that speaks volumes about the legal exposure now facing the organization.
In addition to the Department of Justice, the House Oversight Committee revealed that congressional investigations into ActBlue will continue.
🚨 BREAKING: Reporting confirms what we’ve been investigating.
![Kamala Harris speaking into a microphone with her left arm outstretched, against a blue background with "HUMAN[x]" and "feedzai" logos.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/kamala-harris-speaks-onstage-humanx-124941022.jpg?w=1024)
