Report: FBI Investigating Florida Company Where Acting AG Matt Whitaker Was on Advisory Board

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal probe into a Florida company that allegedly scammed customers out of $26 million while Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker served as a paid advisory-board member, The Wall Street Journal reports. The investigation into World Patent Marketing is reportedly being handled by the FBI’s Miami office and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the agency started contacting alleged fraud victims as “early as June 2017.” The World Patent was reportedly shut down last year after the Federal Trade Commission accused it of “scamming customers out of $26 million.” The company allegedly charged customers “thousands of dollars to patent and promote their inventions,” while providing “almost no real services” and threatening people who complained.