Wohl's Legal Woes: Did She Break The Law?

Jacob Wohl, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, radio host, and Trump supporter, has been accused of breaking the law on several occasions. Wohl first made headlines as a teenage hedge fund manager and was investigated for fraud by a government regulator in 2016. He was banned for life by the National Futures Association for failure to cooperate with the organization. In 2023, Wohl and his associate Jack Burkman were found guilty of violating the Voting Rights Act, the Ku Klux Klan Act, and the Civil Rights Act by executing an illegal conspiracy targeting groups of Black potential voters before the 2020 election. They were sentenced to probation, GPS monitoring, and fines, in addition to community service.

Jacob Wohl violated federal laws with election lies

Far-right conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl and his partner, lobbyist Jack Burkman, violated federal laws with their election lies. Wohl and Burkman were found guilty of executing an illegal conspiracy that targeted groups of Black potential voters before the 2020 election with automated calls that provided deceptive information about mail-in balloting. The calls raised a false threat that the identifying details associated with mail-in voting would later be used for credit card debts, the execution of warrants, and mandatory vaccines.

In August 2020, Wohl and Burkman made tens of thousands of these robocalls to residents of battleground states, including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Illinois. A New York District Judge ruled that the men had intentionally targeted Black communities with the calls. Wohl and Burkman were found to have violated the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Ku Klux Klan Act, which enforces citizens' right to vote under the 14th Amendment. They were also found to have violated state regulations in New York.

In October 2022, Wohl and Burkman pleaded guilty in Ohio to one felony charge of telecommunications fraud. They were sentenced to fines, probation, electronic monitoring, and community service in the form of hundreds of hours of voter registration. In March 2023, a judge ruled in the New York civil case that the pair had violated federal and state civil rights laws. In June 2023, the Federal Communications Commission imposed a fine of over $5 million on both Wohl and Burkman over the robocall scheme.

Wohl and Jack Burkman conspired to target Black voters

Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have been accused of conspiring to target Black voters in several states, including Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and others, such as New York and Illinois. In August 2020, the pair made tens of thousands of robocalls to residents of these battleground states, spreading disinformation and attempting to suppress votes in the 2020 presidential election. The robocalls, which originated from Burkman's personal cell phone number, warned that information provided by mail-in ballots would be used by police to track down criminals, by credit card companies, and by the CDC to enforce mandatory vaccines.

The robocall campaign specifically targeted communities of color, with 12,000 calls made in Detroit alone. Wohl and Burkman pleaded guilty to a single felony count of telecommunications fraud in Ohio in October 2022, and were each fined $2,500, sentenced to two years of probation, and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service registering voters in Washington, D.C. Additionally, in June 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) imposed a fine of over $5 million on both individuals.

This was not an isolated incident for Wohl and Burkman, who have been involved in multiple plots to frame public figures with false accusations of sexual assault, including against Robert Mueller, Pete Buttigieg, and Anthony Fauci. They have also been responsible for spreading conspiracy theories and making false claims, particularly targeting Democratic politicians. Wohl, a self-described "Wohl of Wall Street," has founded several investment funds and created multiple fake private intelligence agencies to aid his schemes.

They used automated calls to spread misinformation

In 2020, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman were charged for their involvement in a robocall scheme to spread misinformation and intimidate Black voters in Detroit and other cities. Wohl and Burkman, who were described as "right-wing fraudsters," were ordered to call back the victims and admit that the messages were false and illegal. The pair were also indicted in Ohio for a similar robocall scheme targeting voters in Cleveland and East Cleveland with misinformation.

The automated calls, which reached about 12,000 Detroit and suburban residents, made false claims about the consequences of using mail-in ballots. According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, the calls asserted that personal information used on mail-in ballots could lead to arrests for outstanding warrants or be used to collect unpaid credit card debts. The calls also falsely warned that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could use the information to track people for mandatory vaccines. Nessel alleged that the calls were intentionally designed to discourage voters of color from casting mail-in ballots.

U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero referred to the voter-suppression scheme as "electoral terror," drawing parallels with the tactics of the Ku Klux Klan. He ordered Wohl and Burkman to issue a corrective message to all recipients of the robocalls, informing them that the original message contained false information that intimidated voters and interfered with the upcoming presidential election, in violation of federal voting-rights laws. Marrero also prohibited the duo from making any further robocalls or text messages intended to disenfranchise voters.

This was not the first instance of Wohl and Burkman spreading misinformation. They had previously manufactured sexual assault allegations against former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and special counsel Robert Mueller. Additionally, they falsely claimed that Elizabeth Warren had a sexual relationship with an ex-Marine male escort. As a result of their actions, they have been removed from social media sites.

Wohl was investigated for fraud

Jacob Wohl, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, was investigated for fraud in 2016. Wohl founded several investment funds as a teenager, including Wohl Capital Investment Group, NeX Capital Management, and Montgomery Assets, Inc. The National Futures Association (NFA) investigated Wohl's NeX Capital Management after receiving an investor complaint. The investor stated that despite being told his $75,000 investment had grown, he was only paid $44,000 when he requested his money back. The NFA found that, contrary to Wohl's claims, the investment accounts had made money overall, and some of it had been diverted into Wohl's mother's brokerage accounts. The NFA also alleged that Wohl misled investors by overstating the profit potential and understating the risk of loss, and by claiming to have been trading for ten years—since he was eight or nine. Wohl was banned by the NFA for life in 2017.

In 2016, a complaint by the same investor resulted in felony arrest warrants being issued for Wohl and his former business partner, Matthew Johnson, for the unlawful sale of securities through Montgomery Assets. Wohl and Johnson were arrested in August 2019 and pleaded not guilty in February 2020.

In 2017, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) charged Wohl and his companies with 14 counts of securities fraud, including falsely representing investment risks and misrepresenting the amounts of assets managed. Wohl was ordered to pay $32,919 in restitution and $5,000 in penalties.

He was banned by a US trading body for life

Jacob Wohl, a 20-year-old right-wing troll, Trump supporter, and disgraced hedge-fund manager, was banned by a US trading body for life after being accused of fraud. Wohl first made headlines as a teenage hedge-fund owner. In 2016, at the age of 18, he began referring to himself as the "Wohl of Wall Street". That same year, he was investigated by a government regulator for fraud, and the Arizona Corporation Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter accusing him of selling unregistered securities. Wohl and his company Nex Capital were banned for life on March 2, 2017, by the National Futures Association for failure to cooperate with the organization.

Wohl was also involved in a scheme to take down Special Counsel Robert Mueller by accusing him of sexual misconduct. The plot appeared to be largely orchestrated by Wohl, who tweeted that a "scandalous story" about Mueller was about to break. The plan was to pay women to invent allegations of sexual misconduct against Mueller in an effort to discredit his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. However, the plot quickly fell apart due to Wohl's failure to cover his tracks, and the FBI announced that they were investigating whether women were offered money to make false allegations.

In addition to his involvement in the Mueller smear campaign, Wohl and his associate Jack Burkman were found to have executed an illegal conspiracy targeting groups of Black potential voters before the 2020 election. They rolled out automated calls that provided deceptive information about mail-in balloting, which could have intimidated these individuals from casting ballots. As a result, Wohl and Burkman were found to have violated the Voting Rights Act, the Ku Klux Klan Act, and the Civil Rights Act, in addition to state regulations in New York. They were sentenced to probation, GPS monitoring, and fines, as well as community service in the form of hundreds of hours of voter registration.

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