According to U.S. news Mother Journal, published on Nov. 14. the Acting Governor (A.G.), Matthew G. Whitaker is in the limelight but not for a good reason. He has been alleged to be associated with a fraudulent patent company which involves cryptocurrency.
Whitaker, said to be a loyalist in Trump’s administration was appointed by the U.S. president on Nov. 7 to replace former A.G. Jeff Sessions.
A man full of controversies, Whitaker is in the news again & under fire for his association with the ” World Patent Marketing”. An alleged scam that marked sundry outlandish products from aspiring investors, including a ” theoretical time travel commodity tied directly to price of Bitcoin”.
The marketed products also included a bespoke ” masculine toilet” for ” well – endowed men” as per Motherjones report.
The crypto – related product had been pitched as ” a technology , an investment vehicle and a community of users,”. The product though never came to fruition was dubbed Time Travel X.
Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) in 2017, accused World Patent Marketing of having ” biked thousands of consumers out of billion of dollars,” and fleeing its hopeful investors clients through bogus patent contracts. The World Patent Marketing was forced to shut down in 2017 when they were fined by $26 million by FTC. The investigation is under process by the FBI as per the Wall Street Journal ( WSJ).
The Washington post reports that Whitaker spurned an October 2017 subpoena from the FTC seeing his personal records related to the company. The WSJ refers to court documents that says Whitaker has never returned $ 9375 which he received for his advisory board role , even when the case has evolved beyond an FTC – led civil proceeding to potential criminal charges.
A statement from Justice Department (DOJ) spokesperson Kerri Kupec has been cited by the Washington Post that says ” acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has said that he has no idea about any fraudulent activity. Any stories suggesting otherwise are false.”
An investigation into Whitaker’s role at World Patent Marketing has been announced by four Democratic House Representatives yesterday.
While taking over for sessions, Whitaker assumed latter’s oversight of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections which was investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Cryptocurrencies and the Mueller investigation made headlines this summer. With the aim of interfering in the 2016 elections, DoJ released an indictment on July 13, charging twelve Russian nationals with committing federal crimes -allegedly funded by cryptocurrencies.
Seven officers from Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate( GRU) has been charged with cryptocurrency – funded global hacking and related disinformation operation by the U.S. department of justice , recently in October