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'Scam' Company Advised by Matthew Whitaker Threatened Victims, But Hundreds Filed Complaints Anyway
Diana Hembree Contributor
Personal Finance covering consumer protection and fraud.
Matthew Whitaker (Photo By Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call) Photo Credit: CQ-Roll Call,Inc.GETTY
The Iowa attorney Trump has named as the acting Attorney General has only been on the job a day or so, but he’s already enveloped in scandal.
Matthew Whitaker, who replaced Jeff Sessions after he was forced out by Trump, served on the advisory board of World Patent Marketing, a Florida-based “scam that has bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars,” according to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
As part of a settlement with the FTC this May, the company was banned from the invention promotion business. Documents in the FTC’s docket show that Whitaker, who served on the World Patent Marketing board from 2014 to 2017, was not just a paid advisory board member -- he threatened at least one victim who complained.
Whitaker and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The settlement resolved charges that the agency brought against it in 2017, which alleged that “consumers paid the defendants thousands of dollars to patent and market their inventions based on bogus ‘success stories’ and testimonials,” according to an FTC press release.
“After stringing consumers along for months or even years, the defendants did not deliver what they promised,” the agency charged, “and many people ended up in debt or lost their life savings with nothing to show for it.”
In addition, the FTC alleged that owner Scott Cooper and his companies -- World Patent Marketing and Desa Industries -- “deceived consumers and suppressed complaints about them using threats, intimidation, and gag clauses.” In August 2017 a federal court subsequently shut down the Miami Beach-based patent scheme and froze its assets pending litigation...
'Scam' Company Advised by Matthew Whitaker Threatened Victims, But Hundreds Filed Complaints Anyway
Diana Hembree Contributor
Personal Finance covering consumer protection and fraud.
Matthew Whitaker (Photo By Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call) Photo Credit: CQ-Roll Call,Inc.GETTY
The Iowa attorney Trump has named as the acting Attorney General has only been on the job a day or so, but he’s already enveloped in scandal.
Matthew Whitaker, who replaced Jeff Sessions after he was forced out by Trump, served on the advisory board of World Patent Marketing, a Florida-based “scam that has bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars,” according to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
As part of a settlement with the FTC this May, the company was banned from the invention promotion business. Documents in the FTC’s docket show that Whitaker, who served on the World Patent Marketing board from 2014 to 2017, was not just a paid advisory board member -- he threatened at least one victim who complained.
Whitaker and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The settlement resolved charges that the agency brought against it in 2017, which alleged that “consumers paid the defendants thousands of dollars to patent and market their inventions based on bogus ‘success stories’ and testimonials,” according to an FTC press release.
“After stringing consumers along for months or even years, the defendants did not deliver what they promised,” the agency charged, “and many people ended up in debt or lost their life savings with nothing to show for it.”
In addition, the FTC alleged that owner Scott Cooper and his companies -- World Patent Marketing and Desa Industries -- “deceived consumers and suppressed complaints about them using threats, intimidation, and gag clauses.” In August 2017 a federal court subsequently shut down the Miami Beach-based patent scheme and froze its assets pending litigation...
'Scam' Company Advised by Matthew Whitaker Threatened Victims, But Hundreds Filed Complaints Anyway
