A 22-year-old man has been charged after allegedly impersonating members of Donald Trump's family and conning the former POTUS' supporters out of thousands of dollars.
According to the Justice Department, Joshua Hall made an appearance in federal court on Tuesday, June 8, after being charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Per People, in November, even Trump himself was duped into believing one of Hall's accounts belonged to his sister Elizabeth Trump Grau. Hall is accused of duping hundreds of others out of more than $7,000 after promoting a fake organization.
The federal complaint against him states:
"Hall defrauded hundreds of victims by making false representations in the course of raising funds for a purported political affinity organization (the Fictitious Political Organization), for the ostensible purpose of supporting the reelection of the individual who was at that time serving as President of the United States (the President).
"However, the Fictitious Political Organization did not exist and Halll used the funds for his own personal living expenses."
As reported by The New York Times, Hall had set up a number of fake accounts for members of Trump's family in 2020. Using the profiles, he posed as Trump's older sister, his late brother Robert Trump, and his teenage son, Barron Trump.
The federal complaint goes on to allege that Hall "used those accounts to amass more than 100,000 followers on social media."
While pretending to be the 74-year-old ex-president's brother Robert, who passed away in August, Hall allegedly began taking advantage of followers of the fraudulent profile by promoting a fake organization known as "Gay Voices for Trump".
According to The Times, the organization received more than $7,000 in GoFundMe donations. However, Hall claims he never actually withdrew the GoFundMe money, yet a spokesperson for the fund-raising company says that he did.
In a statement on Tuesday, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said Hall "led hundreds of people to believe they were donating to an organization that didn't exist by pretending to be someone he wasn't, as alleged."
Hall could be facing as much as 20 years in prison if found guilty of wire fraud and a mandatory two-year sentence for identity theft.