Records show Whitaker knew of allegations of fraud at Florida scam company

Whitaker advised World Patent Market, the Florida-based company, beginning in 2014 and was often sought out for legal advice by its CEO, who would add Whitaker onto email chains where customers had complained, the documents show. The Federal Trade Commission has called the company "an invention-promotion scam that has bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars" in court filings.

In May, World Patent Marketing agreed to pay a nearly $26 million judgment as part of a settlement agreement in the case. A judge has partially suspended that payment.

According to internal communications released by the Federal Trade Commission on Friday, Whitaker was sent a handful of complaints from consumers who had reached out to him about the company.

"Dear Matthew can you get a message to scoot cooper you are on his advisory board but what you don't know is how many people were scammed by him and how fraudulent they are and how much money they robbed from people," one person wrote to Whitaker in 2016. Whitaker forwarded the email to Scott Cooper, the company's CEO.

Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, had previously said that Whitaker was "not aware of any fraudulent activity. Any stories suggesting otherwise are false."

In October 2017, the FTC sent a subpoena to Whitaker as part of its probe into World Patent Marketing demanding he turn over records and communications related to his work at the company. Whitaker did not respond by the deadline on the subpoena, the FTC documents show.

In a voicemail message left for an FTC official after he was notified that he had missed the subpoena, Whitaker said that he wasn't aware of the subpoena because it had been sent to his Iowa law firm, and he had since moved to DC where he served as then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.

"I didn't know that you had served a subpoena. I am now at the Department of Justice here in Washington, D.C., as the chief of staff to the attorney general, so I want to be very helpful," Whitaker said in the voicemail, according to an audio recording of it that was released Friday.

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

The FTC briefed congressional staff on their investigation into World Patent Marketing on Capitol Hill Friday, according to a Democratic aide.

Whitaker earned at least $9,375 from the company from October 2014, when he joined the advisory board, to February 2016, documents show.

In 2014, he agreed to appear in an advertisement for the company that Cooper said was going to air on CNN. Cooper offered to pay Whitaker for his role, though it's not clear if the advertisement ever was taped, or if Whitaker was ever paid for it.

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