A Pennsylvania man fraudulently used then-President Donald Trump’s relatives’ names and photos, Your Content has learned. The accusations include impersonating those of Trump’s sister and teen son—to rip off unsuspecting followers of a fictitious political fundraising operation, the FBI said.
Joshua Hall, of Mechanicsburg, Penn., allegedly raised thousands of dollars using Trump family identities on his platforms – claiming those relatives were helping him run the fundraising operation.
Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York said Hall used the money he raised for his own personal spending. They said he while he had more than a 100,000 social media followers, there was no actual political organization or fundraising group, reports NBC New York.
“Central to the scheme was the impersonation by Joshua Hall … of members of the President’s family,” prosecutors said in court papers filed Tuesday. Prosecutors allege Hall even used the likeness of Barron Trump, 15, falsely claiming the teen called Hall a “friend and partner” of the president.
“Josh is an amazing patriot who is doing tremendous things for our great country. He has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT”, one of the false posts read, the FBI said.
The FBI said there were hundreds of victims ripped off in the scheme in the scam that lasted for more than a year. On his accounts, Hall allegedly wrote that the money raised would go to “field organization and merchandise” and that he had not “…seen a dime of that money personally.”