Jacob Wohl’s Fake P.I. Firm Could Face Legal Trouble For Taking $1,200 From Woman Then Cutting Off All Contact
Jacob Wohl’s bad week may have just gotten even worse with allegations that his fake private investigation firm accepted $1,200 from a formerly homeless woman to find a stolen car, then broke all contact with her.
Wohl went from right-wing Twitter troll to national figure this week after floating bizarre sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Even before Wohl came forward, several reporters noted that they had been contacted by a woman claiming she was offered money to make false allegations against Mueller. Later in the week, Wohl and Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman held a press conference where the woman they said would be making the allegation never showed up and their story fell apart under questioning from reporters.
Now, a new report from the Daily Beast claims that Wohl’s fake intelligence firm may have defrauded a woman who came across their agency through a Craigslist advertisement. Julienne Adams said she was trying to recover damages from a man who had stolen her Hummer when she found the ad for Surefire Intelligence, which claimed to employ international security experts including former Israeli intelligence agents.
Adams said she paid a $1,200 retainer for Surefire’s services, and spoke with the firm’s manager, Matthew Cohen. But it was revealed this week that the 20-year-old Wohl was only pretending to be Cohen.
Jacob Wohl, calling himself “Matthew Cohen,” took $1,200 from a woman who hired Surefire Intelligence to recover her stolen car. He then ghosted on her and she never got her money back. https://t.co/mFBH8IJ3Mu
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 2, 2018
As the Daily Beast noted, Jacob Wohl could be in legal trouble for presenting himself as a private investigator even though he admitted in the press conference this week that he is not a licensed private investigator.
“That’s called an investigation and you’re required, to the best of my knowledge, to obtain a P.I. license in the state of Washington to conduct any sort of investigation,” said Neil Harrison, the president of the Washington Association of Legal Investigators.
Wohl had told Adams that he had financial information on the man who allegedly stole her Hummer, but then he never showed up to a planned meeting in Portland. Adams’ boyfriend then called to tell her that Surefire Intelligence was in the news for the allegations against Robert Mueller, the Daily Beast noted. The reports noted that Wohl used a fake alias for the company and that the other “employees” were really just headshots of celebrities.
Panicked, Adams tried to call all four of the numbers listed for Surefire Intelligence, but at that point, all were disconnected.
She eventually heard from Wohl, who said he had a settlement offer of $20,000 and would have a resolution by Friday, or else he would refund her deposit plus another 30 percent “for your trouble.” She never heard back from him.
When the Daily Beast reached Wohl for comment, he initially hung up but later texted and claimed that Adams had lied and that she actually sold the Hummer. He did not explain how he could have offered her a $20,000 settlement.
Jacob Wohl could already be in trouble for the allegations against Robert Mueller. As NBC News reported, the special counsel office asked the FBI to investigate the allegations that Wohl and Burkman offered money for women to make false allegations of sexual assault against Mueller.
