“… In July 2017 Abramoff and his business partner Marcus Andrade began raising money to launch a cryptocurrency called “AML BitCoin,” which, ironically, stood for “Anti-Money Laundering.” To drum up investor interest, the duo effectively purchased free positive press by making undisclosed payments to journalists in conservative and financial media. Many of the payments were organized by Brian Darling, a former staffer for Sen. Rand Paul who now works as a lobbyist at a firm he founded called Liberty Government Affairs.
To keep track of the money, Darling created a spreadsheet that listed the names of writers, the payoffs they received, and the articles that resulted from those payoffs.
In June 2020, Andrade and Abramoff were
indictedby the Department of Justice for making “false and misleading statements to potential purchasers” of their AML cryptocurrency. Darling’s spreadsheet was introduced as evidence in Andrade’s criminal trial. It was made public in a court filing last July, but hasn’t been reported on until now.
In all, Darling spent $12,800 through his lobbying shop to buy positive press for the coin, according to the spreadsheet. Among the recipients were financial publications like
Forbes and TheStreet and conservative outlets like
RedState and the
American Spectator.…”