Convicted fraudsters launch AI lobbying firm using fake names

A Washington startup pitched as a service to integrate AI into lobbying is covertly run by a pair of well-known, far-right conspiracy theorists and convicted felons who are using pseudonyms in their new business, according to four former employees as well as photo and email evidence.

LobbyMatic was founded last year by Jacob Wohl, who in 2022 was convicted along with his longtime associate Jack Burkman of felony telecom fraud after running a robocall campaign in largely Black neighborhoods in several states telling people not to vote by mail. An Ohio judge ordered them to spend 500 hours registering people to vote, and the Federal Communications Commission fined them $5 million.

In his role as a founder and CEO of the new firm, Wohl uses the name “Jay Klein,” according to the former employees and emails obtained by POLITICO. Burkman uses the pseudonym “Bill Sanders,” the former employees said.

LobbyMatic, whose website does not list any company leadership, temporarily signed up at least three brand-name clients: Toyota, consulting firm Boundary Stone Partners and drug company Lantheus, according to two of the former employees.

Running their new firm under pseudonyms appears to be the latest instance of shady behavior by a pair of convicted fraudsters who’ve become infamous in Washington for various schemes. Now, they are seizing on public exuberance around the promise of AI to transform the workplace — in this case, on K Street.

Two of the former LobbyMatic employees resigned after learning of Klein and Sanders’ true identities, while the other two learned only after they had left the company. The first worked for LobbyMatic for only a month, and the other three worked for the company for several months.

“Jay/Jacob was out of touch with reality,” said one of them. “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.”

The former employee said that they once accompanied “Sanders” to a house in Arlington that they later learned was owned by Burkman. It was the same house where Burkman and Wohl held press conferences several years ago to air their conspiracy claims.

After getting hired by “Jay Klein,” the employee soon grew suspicious about Wohl and the company after witnessing an apparent hesitation to obtain business licenses and hearing Wohl referred to as Jacob. The person discreetly took a photo of Wohl, did a Google image search and learned that Klein was actually Wohl.

The other former employees learned of Klein’s true identity after different colleagues told them that he was Wohl. Three of the former employees also said that Burkman or others at the company would sometimes slip up and call “Jay Klein” Jacob by accident.

And those former employees told POLITICO that they also viewed pictures and videos of Wohl and Burkman online to verify their true identities. For example, Burkman appeared in an episode of the Netflix docuseries “Web of Make Believe” about the Seth Rich murder; the former employees said that their former colleague was definitely the same man.

The former employees were granted anonymity to avoid professional repercussions for being associated with the firm and because they were worried about retaliation from Wohl and Burkman.

Wohl did not respond to a request for comment. When POLITICO called a phone number Burkman listed on lobbying forms and asked if he was “Bill Sanders,” he asked who was calling and then said, “How can I help you?” After a reporter identified himself, Burkman ended the call.

The company did not answer questions sent to a LobbyMatic email address about why Wohl and Burkman had used pseudonyms. It said in a statement: “LobbyMatic is a superb AI software with unmatched capabilities, and is quickly winning one bluechip customer after another.” It added, without providing specifics: “[W]e deliver massive value to our customers, who include some of the most prestigious lobbying firms and corporate government relations offices in Washington DC.”

The earlier telecom fraud was not the only misdeed Wohl and Burkman have engaged in.

In 2020, the two hired actors to stage a fake FBI raid on Burkman’s house and tricked The Washington Post into writing up the phony incident. Wohl used the Klein surname in that incident, too.

The year before, Wohl was charged in California for selling an unregistered security as part of a plot to create fake news items to make money in political betting markets. He pled guilty to four felony counts and was sentenced to two years of probation, according to court records in Riverside County.

Wohl and Burkman drew attention a few years ago by trying to frame multiple public figures, including former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for sexual assaults. They conducted other outlandish smear campaigns, including hiring a woman to say that Anthony Fauci had assaulted her and allegedly stealing a USAID employee’s phone to send out tweets blasting the foreign aid agency as “anti-Christian.”

Among the conspiracy theories that Wohl has pushed include saying in 2020 that Biden had tested positive for Covid and would die in 30 days, that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had a relationship with a former Marine and that Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t eligible to run for president in the 2020 cycle.

Wohl and Burkman’s company asserts on its website that it helps clients “massively increase your efficiency and effectiveness by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence.” Its website states that its technology can monitor and get readouts on Capitol Hill hearings, figure out which lawmakers are important on certain issues and schedule meetings with them or petition them.

Toyota spokesperson Zachary Reed said a person from LobbyMatic represented himself as Jay Klein. The company’s three-month trial expired last month, he said. Lantheus spokesperson Linda Lennox said that a former employee for the company initiated a trial subscription but that Lantheus didn’t use the platform and let the trial expire after three months. Lennox called the LobbyMatic’s website and employees it dealt with “nondescript,” and it was unaware of their backgrounds.

“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, said in a statement. “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.”

Wohl and Burkman often spend time at Washington-area bars and cigar clubs where lobbyists hang out to try to drum up business, according to the former employees.

Burkman has a separate lobbying firm, JM Burkman and Associates, that represents more than two dozen clients, none of which are well-known companies. Along with Burkman, Wohl is registered for a number of the clients.

A photo obtained by POLITICO shows Wohl in a LobbyMatic office with three computer screens, including one with feeds of security cameras monitoring entrances to the office, two desk phones and a closet full of dress shirts. The photo was verified by geolocation data pinning it to the firm’s McLean, Virginia, office.

The first former employee recounted several occasions in which Wohl would enter the building of a potential client and be asked by security for ID. He would step off to the side and pretend to be on his phone. If confronted, Wohl would say he had forgotten his ID or left it in the car.

In one case, the company appears to have made up a high-ranking LobbyMatic employee out of thin air: “Pat Smith,” who is its “VP of Growth.” The blonde-haired woman has hundreds of LinkedIn connections , including top lobbyists at PepsiCo, Merck, GM and UnitedHealth Group. But Wohl told three of the former employees that the person doesn’t exist and that he created her because the best way to get introductions was to use an attractive blonde.

“Pat Smith” has even written stories to promote the company on LinkedIn and Medium . One from October was titled “An AI Arms Race is Coming to K Street: Will You Adapt or Be Left Behind?” Besides the job at LobbyMatic, her profile lists no previous employment history or education.

The first former employee said when they were hired they were told to complete a 133-page security intake form that was similar to the SF-86 form that government employees are often required to fill out. Sections included “Other Names Used,” police records, foreign contacts and travel, psychological and emotional health, and drug and alcohol use. The former employee said they didn’t fill it out because they found it “a little odd.”

The company’s head of security, Steve Eschhocz, told the former employee that the filled-out documents were kept in manila folders in the safe of his house. The computer on his desk had feeds to cameras monitoring the entrance to the office, according to a picture of his desk.

Eschhocz did not respond to a request for comment.

Some hired employees signed an offer letter that said they “accept this insanely great offer!” according to a copy of the letter. But three former employees said the firm sometimes missed payroll, to the point that one of them started the process to formally complain to the Department of Labor to try to get their back pay.

“If I knew who they were and the shit that they had done related to their FCC case, I wouldn’t have touched it with a 10-foot pole,” said the third former employee. “It just feels really dirty and I’m also happy to be away from it. I’m done, I’m gone.”

As of mid-July, the company had four employees in addition to Wohl and Burkman and several contract programmers, according to the first former employee. While the firm lists multiple job openings on the careers page of their website, Wohl told the first former employee earlier this summer that they’re not currently hiring.

The company has other oddities. At its glass office building in McLean, the company knocked down walls earlier this year, and there was sheetrock still visible last month, according to the former employee. But a search of Fairfax County public records found no renovation permit that had been issued to LobbyMatic. The records search also found no occupancy permit for its office.

Earlier this summer, employees of the office’s landlord, COPT Defense Properties, came up to ask for architectural drawings for the renovation, but LobbyMatic told them they didn’t have any drawings, according to the former employee.

A spokesperson for COPT Defense Properties did not respond to a request for comment.

And while LobbyMatic is based in McLean, it is not registered with the Virginia State Corporation Commission as a Virginia company as required, according to a record search. It was incorporated in Delaware in April 2023 with the registered agent’s name being “A Registered Agent, Inc.”