Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker not only threatened a disgruntled customer of a sham patent business in Miami, he also lied to federal investigators about it, claiming that he "never emailed or wrote to consumers” as a consultant for the company. stonewalled federal investigators seeking to determine his role in a fraudulent patent company that reportedly scammed millions of dollars from its customers. Whitaker also remained a loyal proponent of the company, writes the Washington Post.
Whitaker, now the acting attorney general, remained an active champion of World Patent Marketing for three years — even expressing willingness to star in national television ads promoting the firm, the records show.
Internal Federal Trade Commission documents released Friday in response to a public records request reveal the extent of Whitaker’s support for World Patent Marketing, even amid a barrage of warnings about the company’s behavior.
Documents released Friday by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in response to a Freedom of Information Act request tell a different story. Shortly after taking on an advisory role at World Patent Marketing in 2014, Whitaker indeed began responding to customer complaints that the company was defrauding them.
In one instance, Whitaker tried to bully a customer out of reporting the company to the Better Business Bureau, noting his former role as a U.S. attorney and threatening legal action:
“I am assuming you understand there could be serious civil and criminal consequences for you if that is in fact what you and your ‘group’ are doing. [...] “I am familiar with your background and your history with Scott,” Whitaker wrote. “Understand that we take threats like this quite seriously.”
As federal investigators queried Whitaker about his work at the company, they were frustrated by his initial lack of response on the matter and later baffled when they learned he had been appointed chief of staff in October 2017 to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take over as acting Attorney General at the Justice Department.
“You’re not going to believe this,” wrote an employee who works for the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Matt Whitaker is now chief of staff to the Attorney General. Of the United States.”
Throughout his time at World Patent Marketing, Whitaker not only remained a loyalist but he also allowed the company to use his former work as a federal prosecutor to both woo and intimidate customers. Bloomberg writes:
On Nov. 21, 2014, soon after Whitaker joined the firm’s advisory board, Cooper, the CEO, wrote an email to a brand building company with the subject line, “Let’s build a Wikipedia page and use Whitaker to make it credible.”
The Federal Trade Commission ultimately initiated legal action against World Patent Marketing for tricking customers into believing it would help them make money off their patented inventions. According to the agency, some customers burned through their life savings. In the spring, the FTC complaint resulted in a $25 million settlement from World Patent Marketing, which was also forced to shutter its operations.
Now Whitaker, having assisted the company in bilking customers for millions, is comfortably serving as the nation's top law enforcement official. Only the best, as Trump has often said.
House Democrats, who have expressed interest in revisiting Whitaker's role at the company, now have a set of documents at the ready to guide their work.