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In reply to the discussion: McAuliffe among investors in Rhode Island insurance scam that preyed on dying people [View all]spanone
(142,114 posts)Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe was caught up in a minor scandal Wednesday night when a report from the Associated Press erroneously identified the Democratic nominee as being mentioned in an indictment and saying that he had lied to investigators. The report, first sent out around 9:45 p.m., turned out to be false and the AP retracted the story shortly before 11:30 p.m.
The story, which is still up on some websites with an accompanying disclaimer, claimed that, "Documents in a federal fraud case allege that...Terry McAuliffe lied to a federal official investigating a Rhode Island estate planner now imprisoned for receiving death benefits on annuities secured on terminally ill people without their knowledge."
The documents come from a criminal investigation into Joseph Caramadre, a Rhode Island estate planner, who supposedly stole terminally ill people's identities and used them to illegally obtain their death benefits.
The mistake in the AP's reporting comes from misidentifying a suspect referred to by the initials T.M. as McAuliffe. According to a statement provided to NBC4 Washington by the candidate's campaign:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/10/associated-press-retracts-mcauliffe-story/70377/