RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
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FBI Is Investigating Florida Company Where Whitaker Was Advisory-Board Member
Active case is being handled by FBI Miami office; acting attorney general oversees FBI
Matthew Whitaker has been acting attorney general since Wednesday, when Jeff Sessions resigned as head of the Justice Department at the request of President Trump. Photo: allison shelley/Reuters
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By
Mark Maremont and
James V. Grimaldi
Nov. 9, 2018 4:39 p.m. ET
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal investigation of a Florida company accused of scamming millions from customers during the period that Matthew Whitaker, the acting U.S. attorney general, served as a paid advisory-board member, according to an alleged victim who was contacted by the FBI and other people familiar with the matter.:heartylaugh:
The investigation is being handled by the Miami office of the FBI and by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to an email sent to the alleged victim last year by an FBI victim specialist. A recording on a phone line set up by the Justice Department to help victims said Friday the case remains active.
Mr. Whitaker, appointed Wednesday by President Trump to replace Jeff Sessions as head of the Justice Department, oversees the FBI in his new job.
Justice Department guidelines would require Mr. Whitaker to avoid any involvement in the Florida case, which relates to a company called World Patent Marketing Inc., said Stephen Gillers, an ethics expert at New York University Law School. Mr. Gillers said Mr. Whitaker “is unquestionably recused from any investigation or prosecution of World Patent Marketing.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
World Patent Marketing, based in Miami Beach, shut down last year after being accused by the Federal Trade Commission of scamming customers out of $26 million. The company charged would-be inventors thousands of dollars to patent and promote their inventions, but provided almost no real services and threatened those who complained, the FTC said.
The FTC’s action was a civil proceeding. The existence of a continuing FBI investigation suggests authorities are also looking into potential criminal charges.:shakingdamn:
An FBI spokeswoman in Washington declined to comment.
Mr. Whitaker was paid a total of $9,375 to serve as an advisory-board member of the company, according to court documents, and appeared in at least two promotional videos the firm posted on its website.:TeyonahLMAO: He also wrote a 2015 email on the company’s behalf to an unhappy customer, citing his background as a former U.S. Attorney and threatening the customer with “serious civil and criminal consequences,” the documents show.:conceitedsideeye:
A December 2014 company press release quoted Mr. Whitaker as saying, “As a former US Attorney, I would only align myself with a first class organization. World Patent Marketing goes beyond making statements about doing business ‘ethically’ and translates them into action.”
The company promoted its advisory board, which included other prominent individuals besides Mr. Whitaker, to help convince customers of its bona fides, court documents show.
“That advisory board was thrown up on World Patent Marketing website as a way of luring consumers,” said Joe LoPiccolo, an attorney who filed a class-action lawsuit against World Patent Marketing, which is pending.
Some of the other people on the advisory board have said in court documents they did little or nothing for the company, and the FTC didn’t name any advisory-board members as defendants.
Mr. Whitaker was appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in 2004, and held the post until 2009, when the Obama administration named a replacement. In 2014, he was defeated in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate by Joni Ernst, who later won the general election.
The FTC earlier this year settled the case with World Patent Marketing and its founder, Scott Cooper, who agreed not to promote any invention-promotion services. The FTC obtained a judgment for the full amount allegedly lost by customers—$26 million—and Mr. Cooper agreed to turn over a Miami Beach waterfront property he owned to the FTC, court records show.
Mr. Cooper and his then-wife each contributed $2,600 to Mr. Whitaker’s Senate campaign, federal election records show. The contributions were made in 2013, before the February 2014 founding of World Patent Marketing.
Neither Mr. Cooper nor his attorney responded to requests for comment.
The FBI began contacting victims of the alleged fraud at World Patent as early as June 2017:Muellerlmao:. In a letter sent to one victim that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the FBI victim specialist said that the case could “be a lengthy undertaking, and, for several reasons, we cannot tell you about its progress at this time.”
A court-appointed receiver for World Patent Marketing said several of the other advisory-board members returned fees they received from the company, but that Mr. Whitaker didn’t respond to a demand notice sent by the receiver.
—Lisa Schwartz contributed to this article.
Write to Mark Maremont at mark.maremont@wsj.com
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The deep state checkmated this motherfukker 
wow
Investigation into Whitaker started in June 2017...:weebaynanimated:
Mueller starts special counsel investiation in May 2017...:muellercmonson:
Sessions tried to resign in May/June 2017...:Muellerlmao:
Holy shyt at Whitaker
They’re ALL Charlatans it’s incredible
They’re ALL Charlatans it’s incredible
Rosenstein is a slick son of a bytch 
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AZBeauty
Stop lyin' nicca.
