The COVID-19 pandemic was a breeding ground for misinformation, and one Dutch man made a business out of it. Now he’s in trouble.
Pieter Kuit from Hillegom posed as the director of a committee investigating the Dutch Parliament’s coronavirus policies.
The 61-year-old scammed countless people by soliciting donations for his “research.” The investigation? False. The money? Spent on holidays abroad.
Now he has been ordered by the Hague District Court to pay €302,000 to the state, reports NU.nl.
How did he pull it off?
The made-up tribunal was called the Buitenparlementaire Onderzoekscommissie 2020 (BPOC2020), loosely translated as the Extraparliamentary Investigation Committee 2020.
On its dedicated website, “doezelfnormaal.nl,” he claimed to have sworn statements from police officers documenting violence at protests against the government’s corona policy.
The whole charade was propped up by a forged notarial deed, which claimed to verify the officers’ identities and confirm that their video testimonies were locked away in a safe.
Donors could pay to access an “interim report” containing these alleged testimonies or simply contribute what they wished.
Where did the money go?
Although the operation ran for two and a half years, the Hague District Court was unable to establish exactly how many “donations” the perpetrator collected.
What they did establish, however, was that three-quarters of the incoming funds were spent on holidays to Aruba, Austria, and Sweden, with additional cash transfers to his son and daughter.
In an earlier ruling, the judge found that the man exploited people’s fear and distrust during the pandemic. He “exploited sentiment,” the court said.
In terms of money matters, the verdict was clear. His total illicit profit was estimated at €302,000. Should he fail to pay the powers that be, he faces up to three years behind bars.
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