https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jacob-wohl-jack-burkman-ordered-to-register-new-voters-over-robocalls-to-suppress-black-votes/?fbclid=IwAR315nSHB8ZyMk5rl1ZnESqFBnLWg3Bc52K6pBKEBQmvANUnRIoa3c-Vu30
Men who used robocalls to suppress Black votes ordered by judge to register
new voters
December 1, 2022
An Ohio judge ordered right-wing operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to
spend 500 hours registering new voters after the duo pleaded guilty to
charges stemming from a scheme to use robocalls to depress Black voter
turnout in the 2020 election.
According to court documents
<https://www.courts.michigan.gov/4aa9cf/siteassets/case-documents/briefs/msc/2022-2023/164638-9/164638_46_coa-maj-opn.pdf>,
the calls were made across multiple Midwest states, and used false
information in an attempt to dissuade predominantly Black voters from casting
mail-in ballots at a time when COVID rates across the U.S. were spiking.
The robocalls falsely told voters that their information would be given to a
public database, allowing police departments to track down warrants, credit
card companies to collect outstanding debts, and even the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention to "track people for mandatory vaccines."
"Don't be finessed into giving your private information to the man," the call
said. "Stay safe and beware of vote by mail."
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge John Sutula also fined the two
defendants $2,500, and placed them on two years probation, according to local
media outlet Cleveland.com
<https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2022/11/jacob-wohl-jack-burkman-must-spend-500-hours-registering-voters-as-penance-for-phony-robocalls-targeting-black-voters-in-cleveland.html?e=da88c1ae410ea2f36778edd1458487db&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter_afternoon_update_a%202022-11-29&utm_term=Newsletter_afternoon_update>.
The Judge compared the men's efforts to those who used violence in order to
suppress southern Black voters in the 1960s, during the height of the U.S.
Civil Rights Movement.
"I think it's a despicable thing that you guys have done," Sutula said,
according to The Associated Press.
Wohl and Burkman last year were fined more than $5 million
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fcc-robocalls-burkman-wohl-cleveland/> by the
Federal Communications Commission over the robocalls.
The pair have also come under fire for other schemes, including attempting to
recruit men into making false sexual assault allegations directed toward
then-presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, according to The Daily Beast
<https://www.thedailybeast.com/pete-buttigieg-accuser-hunter-kelly-says-jacob-wohl-and-jack-burkman-tricked-him-into-sex-assault-hoax>.
Though one man came forward with an allegation, it was retracted hours later.