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. 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.” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said “Acting attorney general Matt Whitaker has said he is not aware of any fraudulent activity. Any stories suggesting otherwise are false.” Ms. Kupec said she can’t comment on specific recusals but added that Mr. Whitaker “is fully committed” to the departments’s ethics procedures when “a recusal may be warranted.” 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. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-is...whitaker-was-advisory-board-member-1541799564
It's interesting watching the WSJ go hard after Trump these last couple of days. They are owned by the same guy who owns Fox News.
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL MATTHEW WHITAKER ONCE SAID JEWS, MUSLIMS AND ATHEISTS SHOULD NOT BE FEDERAL JUDGES https://www.newsweek.com/matthew-wh...lic&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Distribution
How do you control a department that is investigating you? I guess like running an election where you are candidate?
