Wikipedia not trumped by Trump appointee
- Smallbones has been a Wikipedia editor for 13 years, contributing to The Signpost regarding paid editing and financial market regulation. He has a Ph.D. in finance and professional experience in finance.
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On November 30, 2018, the United States Federal Trade Commission released a series of emails and other documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) related to the Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker's work on the advisory board of World Patent Marketing (WPM). The company was a scam, taking up to $400,000 from any hopeful inventor it could hook, while providing few if any services to them.[1] WPM was fined $26 million, the total of its alleged fraudulent take, and was shut down by the FTC in May of 2018.[2]
Whitaker's selection would be controversial even without his involvement in an obvious patent scam. His November 7 appointment by President Donald Trump is widely viewed as having the potential to limit the Mueller investigation into the President. The appointment is being challenged as unconstitutional in several court cases because it avoids the process of confirmation by the Senate. Four hundred former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have petitioned Trump to replace Whitaker.[3]
The FOIA release included an email from the head of the scam company, which stated "Let's build a Wikipedia page and use Whitaker to make it credible."[4] The editing of Wikipedia articles by scammers is nothing new. For example, editing by employees of binary options scammer Banc de Binary was at times openly declared. Politicians and government officials have also edited articles promoting their careers, including Corey Stewart, who ran in the 2017 Virginia Republican gubernatorial primary while telling CNN of his campaign's Wikipedia edits.[5] But the possible combination of edits made by outright scammers with the possible participation of an official who later achieved a position as high as Acting U.S. Attorney General is unprecedented.
A Signpost investigation of the released documents[6][7] has revealed that an editor with an account name almost identical to that of a WPM PR agent, as named in the FOIA release[8] edited the article on Whitaker, adding external links in the text to both WPM's website and Whitaker's law office. It should be remembered, of course, that no purely on-wiki evidence can prove the editor's real world name. "Joe jobs" are possible, where a user account is created to embarrass the named person. Other suspicious edits include the creation of the English Wikipedia article on Whitaker as a possible autobiography. A resume that Whitaker sent to WPM is included in the released documents. It contains the false statement that Whitaker was awarded the prestigious Academic All-American honor while playing college football.
- ^ Shammas, Brittany (22 August 2017). "A Miami Beach Scam Took Millions of Dollars from Thousands of Inventors, Feds Say". Miami New Times. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- ^ Leonnig, Carol D.; Rosalind S., Helderman (November 9, 2018). "Federal Investigators Scrutinized Whitaker's Role in Patent Company Accused of Fraud, According to People with Knowledge of Case". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (December 4, 2018). "400 DOJ Alums Sign Statement Opposing Acting AG Matthew Whitaker". USA Today.
- ^ FOIA release, search "November 21, 2014"
- ^ Kaczynski, Andrew; McDermott, Nathan (March 23, 2017). "Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Removed Unflattering Info from Wikipedia Page". CNN.
- ^ FTC listing of all files in the release
- ^ FOIA release. This is a large unstructured document released under the Freedom of Information Act. Search "wiki" to find many of the relevant documents
- ^ FOIA release, search "9024"