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Federal authorities are seeking the forfeiture of more than $60,000 they believe is part of $250,000 stolen from a Tennessee woman via bogus emails made to look like they came from a Christian foundation. The Maclellan Foundation discovered in October of 2021 that the email account of its chief investment officer, Tom Lowe, had been compromised, allowing unidentified suspects to read his emails and identify potential victims, the Chattanoogan reported .
The perpetrators used their access to Lowe’s Maclellan Foundation email address to target Margaret May, a resident of Chattanooga and friend of Lowe’s to whom he had provided investment advice in the past.
They sent May an email that appeared to be from Lowe giving her instructions to wire $250,000 to the Truist bank account of Randall Auto of Bradenton, Florida. They were able to keep the sent email hidden from Lowe in an email sub-file.
IT specialists brought in by the Foundation after the money transfer was brought to its attention discovered the email account compromise and reported it to federal authorities as a potential wire fraud and money laundering case.
Federal agents said most of the $250,000 was dispersed via two cashier’s checks for $197,000 and $30,900 respectively, made payable to Phillip Lucas and deposited to the JP Morgan Chase Bank account of Philip Lucas DBA Lucas Auto Sales DBA Phileas Ltd.
The remaining money in the two accounts—$997.31 in the Randall Auto account and $59,982.33 in the Lucas Auto account—is being held through by the U.S. Marshal’s Office. Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
