The president-elect, Donald Trump, chose Matthew Whitaker, who held the role of acting Attorney General for a brief three-month period during his initial term, as his ambassador to NATO on Wednesday.
Prior to his appointment to either role, Whitaker was associated with a dubious company that promoted unusual inventions—including a “masculine toilet” designed with additional space for well-endowed individuals.
For approximately three years, Whitaker was a member of the advisory board for World Patent Marketing, a firm that endorsed inventions and was subsequently investigated, fined, and shut down by the Federal Trade Commission.
While the company portrayed itself as a marketing service facilitating the sale of inventions to the public, the FTC accused it of defrauding inventors, failing to deliver on promises, and threatening them with “intimidation, threats, and gag orders” when they raised complaints.
Among these inventions was what was referred to as the Masculine Toilet, which was publicized through a press release in 2014.
World Patent Marketing ultimately reached a settlement with the FTC in 2018, agreeing to pay nearly $26 million in penalties and permanently ceasing operations.
“After prolonging consumer engagement for months, if not years, the defendants failed to provide the promised products, leaving many individuals in debt or stripped of their life savings without any return,” stated the FTC in a statement following the settlement.
Documents later disclosed by the FTC indicate that Whitaker played a notably active role in the company’s activities, appearing in YouTube videos to promote some of their offerings and participating in scripts for television ads. It remains unclear whether these advertisements were actually produced.
Whitaker also received numerous irate emails and messages from clients who accused the business of scamming them out of substantial sums.
Before his association with this company, Whitaker was a federal prosecutor in Iowa during the Bush administration. He resumed government service in 2017, when he became the chief of staff for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, until his resignation in November 2018.
Shortly after Whitaker was appointed Acting Attorney General, House Democrats initiated an investigation into his ties with World Patent Marketing. However, his tenure in this role lasted only about three months, until former Attorney General Bill Barr was confirmed in February 2019.
