"We have obtained new documents showing that you failed to return thousands of dollars that were supposed to be distributed to the victims of World Patent Marketing's alleged fraud, despite your involvement...in handling complaints from individuals of the company's actions," four House committee chairman wrote in a letter to Whitaker dated Thursday.
The four chairmen -- Reps. Elijah Cummings of Oversight and Reform, Jerry Nadler of Judiciary, Adam Schiff of Intelligence and Frank Pallone of Energy and Commerce -- also wrote that Whitaker has failed to "provide a single document that we requested" back in November about his involvement with World Patent Marketing.
In November, Cummings released a statement that Whitaker's role at World Patent Marketing called into question serious concerns about his ability to be interim attorney general.
"These new documents suggest that Mr. Whitaker was personally aware of allegations of fraud by World Patent Marketing and its CEO at the same time he was receiving payments as a member of the Advisory Board," Cummings said.
CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment as well as lawyers for World Patent Marketing and has not yet received a response.
Whitaker, who was tapped in November to replace fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary committee Friday morning. The last-minute claim sets the stage for an even more contentious hearing.
In 2014, Whitaker was named an advisory board member to World Patent Marketing, a Florida company that promised to help investors get patents.
In one document released Friday by the Democrats, a payment record shows Whitaker was paid at least $9,375 by the company from October 2014 to February 2016.
World Patent Marketing was hit with a $26 million judgment and shut down by the Federal Trade Commission in 2018 over what court documents called "an invention-promotion scam that has bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars."
Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement in November that Whitaker "has said he was not aware of any fraudulent activity. Any stories suggesting otherwise are false."
In October, 2017, the FTC sent Whitaker a subpoena as part of their investigation.
Whitaker did not respond by the deadline on the subpoena, the FTC documents show.
In a voicemail message left for an FTC official after he was notified that he had missed the subpoena, Whitaker said that he wasn't aware of the subpoena because it had been sent to his Iowa law firm, and he had since moved to DC where he served as then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.
"I didn't know that you had served a subpoena. I am now at the Department of Justice here in Washington, DC, as the chief of staff to the attorney general, so I want to be very helpful," Whitaker said in the voicemail, according to an audio recording of it that was released in November.
Notes from an FTC official on an apparent follow-up call between Whitaker and the agency about the subpoena show that Whitaker said his role with the company was narrow, and he had little contact with customers. According to the FTC Whitaker said it would be challenging to respond to the order because of attorney-client privilege.
FTC documents released in November showed that Whitaker continued to sit on the advisory board even after learning of multiple claims of fraud made against it by disgruntled customers.
The counsel for the company's receiver wrote to Whitaker in February 2018 demanding the return of the $9,375.
In an email from December 6, 2018, the firm wrote to the staff for the House Committee on Oversight and Reform stating, "According to our internal records, Mr. Whitaker did not respond, either in writing or by phone, to the demand letter. Mr. Whitaker has not returned the $9,375."
No comments:
Post a Comment