Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, convicted fraudsters who became infamous for running inept smear campaigns against former President Donald Trump's political opponents, have secretly founded an artificial intelligence-centric lobbying form.
And much like their other past ventures, reports Politico, it appears to already be a fiasco.
As Politico documents, Wohl and Burkman adopted pseudonyms to found the firm LobbyMatic, a startup whose stated goal is to help companies use artificial intelligence to track legislative activity.
The firm even snagged some big-name clients to sign up for its three-month trial program, including auto manufacturer Toyota, consulting firm Boundary Stone Partners, and drug company Lantheus.
However, representatives for those firms said they did not continue using the service after their trials expired, and one went so far as to say the service simply did not work as advertised.
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“We were intrigued by the advertised potential of LobbyMatic and had a limited number of employees test out the service to track legislation and summarize Congressional hearings,” Jeff Navin, a co-founder of Boundary Stone Partners, told Politico. “We quickly determined the tool did not work and terminated our contract two months ago. At no point did BSP share any company information with LobbyMatic, nor did we know of Wohl or Burkman’s affiliation with LobbyMatic.”
What's more, two former LobbyMatic employees who spoke with Politico said that they quit their jobs when they learned that Wohl and Burkman were secretly running the firm.
These employees also painted an unflattering portrait of the company's culture and work environment.
"Jacob was out of touch with reality,” one ex-employee told Politico. “Working for them you knew you were never getting the full story and were often left trying to find the truth. If I had to sum up my work experience for them, I would describe them as living with their head in the clouds and in a false reality.”
Wohl and Burkman were fined millions of dollars after they funded a misleading robocall aimed at discouraging Black voters from voting by mail in the 2020 presidential election.
