Folks, We’ve Got Yet Another Right-Wing Media Payola Scandal
This one involves Jack Abramoff’s crypto venture!
HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST to bribe a Daily Caller writer for positive coverage? It could be cheaper than you think.
According to a newly unearthed ledger kept by a Washington lobbyist who tracked his payments to conservative bloggers, it took only $500 to buy a story in the publication, which was one of a handful caught in the latest payola scandal. And though the story appeared under the byline of the Caller’s managing editor, prosecutors who unearthed the ledger say it was actually ghostwritten by the company that effectively bought the coverage.
The spreadsheet listing these transactions was seized by the FBI as part of a 2020 investigation into a fraudulent cryptocurrency promoted by infamous Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It offers a glimpse into how money circulates in conservative media, where it’s not that unusual for celebrity commentators to suddenly champion causes they haven’t seemed interested in before, creating suspicion that they’re on the dole.
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 indicted by 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.
But among those publications that received the cash, the Daily Caller stood out. That’s because