The New Hampshire attorney general on Tuesday detailed a criminal investigation into a robocall that reached thousands of New Hampshire residents ahead of the state’s presidential primary last month, in which an AI-generated Joe Biden voice urged Democrats not to vote.
During a press conference, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said that investigators had traced the Jan. 21 calls to Life Corporation, a Texas-based company whose owner Formella identified as Walter Monk. He also said that Lingo Telecom, another Texas-based company, was the “originating service provider” for the calls.
Neither company immediately responded to HuffPost’s request for comment about what Formella shared. He said investigators had also identified other entities “who are not necessarily responsible for the calls but who we believe have pertinent information.”
The state attorney general said he hadn’t seen anything like the phony Biden robocall before last month.
“I think this case is unique in that it’s providing us a real-life example of an attempt to use AI to interfere with an election,” Formella said. “That’s been something we’ve been concerned about in the law enforcement community for a while, and certainly something that the state attorneys general have talked about, but we have not seen as concrete an example as this, days before a primary, an attempt to use AI to interfere with an election.”
In the call, which had a false caller ID appearing to belong to a former chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, a fake Biden voice urged Democrats to sit out of the primary process.
“This coming Tuesday is the New Hampshire presidential preference primary. Republicans have been trying to push nonpartisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary. What a bunch of malarkey,” the voice said.
“We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” the fake Biden added. “We’ll need your help in electing Democrats up and down the ticket. Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
Biden, though he was not on the primary ballot, ultimately won the New Hampshire primary.
Formella said that the robocall — which reached somewhere between 5,000 and 25,000 people — was now the subject of a criminal investigation and potential civil litigation, having potentially violated both state and federal laws against voter suppression and fraudulent robocalls.
The New Hampshire Department of Justice issued a cease-and-desist letter to Life Corporation “that orders the company to immediately cease violating New Hampshire election laws” and has opened a criminal investigation, Formella said. As part of that investigation, the agency has sent document preservation notices and subpoenas to Life Corporation, Lingo Telecom “and any other individual or entity who we believe may have information relevant to this investigation,” he said.
The Federal Communications Commission has also issued a cease-and-desist to Lingo Telecom, demanding it stop allowing “illegal robocall traffic on its platform,” Formella added. The attorney general’s anti-robocall task force is preparing for potential civil action against Life Corporation and any other entity potentially involved.
“We will not tolerate any action that seeks to undermine the integrity of our elections and our democratic process,” Formella said. “The message to any person or company who would attempt to engage in these activities is clear and simple. Don’t try it.”