The Associated Press quickly retracted a story published Wednesday night that reported that Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe lied to a federal official investigating a fraud scheme.
The report identified McAuliffe as the individual referred to as “T.M.” in a 2011 indictment related to the criminal investigation of Rhode Island estate planner Joseph Caramadre, the man who reportedly created a scheme to steal death benefit annuities from people.
The original Associated Press report said that 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 original story went on to say “that McAuliffe misled a federal postal inspector who was inquiring about a $2,000 check Caramadre had sent him.”
The T.M. that the Associated Press report said referred to McAuliffe turned out to refer to someone else, someone who apparently worked in construction.
The report went up at 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday and was withdrawn less than two hours later.
