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New York Attorney General Letitia James reached an agreement with MAGA pranksters Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman for their robocall scheme that aimed to discourage Black Americans from voting during the 2020 election. In their out-of-court settlement, Wohl and Burkman were ordered to pay “up to $1.25 million.”
Wohl and Burkman were found liable by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in March 2023 for “targeting Black voters and transmitting false and threatening messages intended to discourage voting.” In a statement James released on Tuesday, she said:
The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and it belongs to everyone. We will not allow anyone to threaten that right. Wohl and Burkman orchestrated a depraved and disinformation-ridden campaign to intimidate Black voters in an attempt to sway the election in favor of their preferred candidate. Now they will pay up to $1.25 million to my office, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and the individuals who were harmed by their scheme. My office will always defend the right to vote.
Wohl and Burkman are allegedly responsible for carrying out a robocall operation that occurred in several other states including Michigan and Ohio, where the duo also faced criminal charges. The calls targeted Black communities and falsely claimed that voting by mail would put their personal data at risk. It was not difficult to link Wohl and Burkman with the calls since they were mentioned by name in them. Those calls reached about 85,000 people according to Marrero’s ruling back in October 2020.
A sample robocall read:
Hi, this is Tamika Taylor from Project 1599, the civil rights organization founded by Jack Burman [sic] and Jacob Wohl. Mail-in voting sounds great, but did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts? The CDC is even pushing to use records for mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines. Don’t be finessed into giving your private information to the man, stay home safe and beware of vote by mail.
James claimed that the calls in New York alone reached approximately 5,500 people. The initial amount she asked in damages was about $2.75 million, or $500 per call.
