Complaint Review: Howard N. Cromwell Jr. - Internet

Good Day:

I represent Howard Nelson Cromwell. I wish to file the following rebuttal to the  "complaint " about Mr. Cromwell from July 12, 2012. 

I note that the "complaint" doesn't seem to satisfy the criteria of your website, as it is not the complaint of a dissatisfied customer, or anyone who had any actual contact with Mr. Cromwell. Rather, it is a posting from an anonymous internet "lurker", apparently located in Arizona.  The poster does not even claim to have been harmed by Mr. Cromwell; rather, he repeats unsupported claims from gossip websites that were raised against reality TV clients of Mr. Cromwell's public relations firm.  By the very nature of "reality TV" stardom, those clients engendered controversy, became regular fodder for gossip sites like TMZ.com, and attracted many internet "haters" on various gossip blogs and other social media.

When Mr. Cromwell began to provide public relations services to those clients in 2010, some of those "haters" also focused on him.  I believe your poster is nothing more than one of those anonymous "haters".  Since there is no specific allegation of "fraud" or "pocketing" funds raised for any specific charity or event, it is difficult to rebut such a claim.  I can state that no such charity or charitable event was ever defrauded by Mr. Cromwell. In compliance with your guidelines, I demand that the author of the posting provide specific proof that such a thing ever happened.

Mr. Cromwell is not, as asserted by the anonymous poster, a fund raiser.  He provides public relations services such as issuing press releases, event promotion, and placing advertising. He often does so for non-profit organizations in the Washington DC greater metropolitan area. Some of his clients, who have engaged his services repeatedly, year after year, and will vouch for his reliable services to them, and to his reputation in general, include: ADAP Advocacy Association, Blessed Haven, Autism Society of America and many others listed on his website, www.lleworcagency.com.

There is one factual assertion made by the anonymous poster that is true, if only a partial truth.  It is true that Mr. Cromwell was charged in 2008 with money laundering, wire fraud, and tax evasion.  This was while Mr. Cromwell was an employee of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and before he ventured out on his own to launch his online magazine or his public relations business. You will note that the anonymous poster does not claim that the charges were in regard to Mr. Cromwell defrauding any charity. What the poster fails to mention is that in March of 2010, two years before the July 12, 2012, Ripoff.com "complaint" filing, those charges were completely dismissed.

The reason the charges were dropped is that upon investigation, the US Attorney realized that Mr. Cromwell had not been attempting to hide or launder income, but rather, had been the victim of fraud. Mr. Cromwell is an Army veteran, and fell victim to a phony charity that called itself the Charitable Trust Foundation, that purported to be providing care packages and other services to US servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such fraudulent schemes were common at the time. Mr. Cromwell was induced to make donations to this "Foundation" by wire transfer to an overseas account.  While it is embarrassing to admit to this level of naivete, Mr. Cromwell did nothing criminal. He lost a considerable amount of money, both to the fraudulent scheme and in legal fees before the matter was rectified and dismissed.

Since the anonymous poster refers to the PACER document system, I assume he knew of the dismissal, as the Order of Dismissal is available on PACER. I have attached the Order as well as the Motion, as they appear in PACER, for your convenience.  Please note that dismissal was made on motion by the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. The charges were never brought to trial, all charges were dismissed; there was no plea to any of the charges, nor to any lesser charge.  Had there been any basis to the charges, I can assure you the Office of the United States Attorney would not have filed a motion to dismiss. 

In summary, I believe your website has been misused by this anonymous posting. The filer had no actual "complaint" against Mr. Cromwell, and no facts to support his assertion that any charity had been "defrauded" by him. The filer most assuredly knew from PACER that the charges he referred to had been dismissed two years before.  He deceptively combined these dismissed charges with spurious, unsupported allegations about unnamed charities that were allegedly defrauded.  I believe this "claim" should be removed from your site.

If I can be of assistance or you have any questions, feel free to call me at 202-262-9822.

Sincerely,

Kevin J. Keefe, Esq.

DC Bar No. 394139