Dr Simone Gold exposes deception, sabotage intended to derail America’s Frontline Doctors

December 5, 2022

In a new legal petition, Dr. Simone Gold and America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) have documented the maneuvers of Democrat fundraiser Joey Gilbert to siphon money from AFLDS and then publicly accuse Dr. Gold of doing what he in fact did himself.

Manipulative, malicious

A press release accompanying the lawsuit describes the seriousness of Gilbert’s actions.

As promised, the sensationalized claims of financial improprieties recently cast against America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) and its Founder and President Dr. Simone Gold were shown to be not only false but blatantly manipulated to create a malicious attack against the renowned medical and civil rights champion…

While the DOJ jailed Gold on trumped up trespass charges, Gilbert sprang to action in an attempt to keep her silenced upon her release, through deception and sabotage.

[The] lawsuit just filed by AFLDS against Gilbert, a now-disgraced former AFLDS director . . . is a detailed account of his treacherous activities stretching back nearly a year and most recently while Gold was indisposed for several months this summer. The complaint . . . reads like an intelligence agency espionage report. The sustained deception and sabotage of Gilbert’s actions are disturbing.

Avenatti-Lite

Gilbert’s attack on Dr. Gold, created a déjà vu feeling, coming as it did on the heels of exposés revealing his history of:

cheating his own clients and his boxing opponents
being heavily sanctioned for a frivolous lawsuit
political grifting as a Republican while hiding fundraising for radical Democrats
receiving funding from deceptively named Democrat front groups
claiming to support border control while alerting illegals of ICE raids
claiming to be conservative while pushing additional taxes and regulations
organizing a protest against Trump
coopting anti-mask rallies
allying with fraudulent conspiracy theories that delegitimize evidence based claims
drawing a salary from ALDS without promoting any new programming or activities

The déjà vu is related to the recent crash of a fellow attorney.

Comparisons to another corrupt lawyer have been noted, correlating the slanderous projection and self-destructive trajectory of Gilbert’s slide to the spectacular implosion and demise of Michael Avenatti, leading to Gilbert’s recent moniker of “Avenatti-Lite,” a reference to his history of cheating in professional boxing and other ethical breaches.

While the dispute remains in litigation, Gold has limited her comment on the matter pending further court action, but she continues to assure the public and the many supporters of AFLDS across the nation that “AFLDS remains in pursuit of its mission to provide the public with accurate and independent information related to science, medicine, and civil liberties.”

Biden-Lite

The Biden family members famously made millions from Ukrainian corporations interested in their familial connection to Joe Biden, only to then accuse President Trump of Ukrainian corruption when he tried to investigate their corruption.

Did a Democrat fundraiser co-opt anti-mask rallies, work his way into AFLDS and embezzle funds from the group only to accuse AFLDS’ founder of embezzlement when she ordered an outside audit that uncovered his embezzlement?

A new petition in an Arizona court explains that Gilbert began working with AFLDS and demanded a $1.1 million dollar deposit be made into his law firm’s trust account. But he didn’t mention that he had arranged with some Board members to be added to the Board, which would then allow him to vote to authorize the release of the funds to himself! According to the verified filing,

Gilbert failed to disclose the existence of an unwaivable conflict of interest arising from the fact that he was being added to the Board of Directors for AFLDS that same month. . . . Gilbert verbally agreed multiple times to return the $1.1 million to an AFLDS bank account, but he never did so, [eventually] misappropriating the $1.1 million. . .

Instead of returning the missing million plus dollars, Gilbert set up an elaborate scheme to create a pretense for accusing Dr. Gold of being the one who took money. Gilbert created a subsidiary of AFLDS and used his law firm as the address for that subsidiary. He then arranged the purchase of a house by that subsidiary to be used as an appreciating asset and investment for the benefit of the organization and as a home office for AFLDS staff members to work in and for part of the home to be a residence for Dr. Gold in lieu of part of her compensation.

Gilbert then spread a story on social media that Dr. Gold purchased a home for herself with AFLDS funds, when the house was actually in the name of a subsidiary company that Gilbert created. Dr. Gold has no ownership interest in the home at all. Gilbert even claimed in a court filing that he didn’t know about the purchase despite arranging the purchase himself!

In reality, the house was properly purchased by the company for company purposes — with Gilbert’s knowledge, participation, and approval — and Gold was permitted to live and conduct business meetings and publicity in the house because of the inseparable relationship between her public image and AFLDS’s success.

When the cat’s away

Gilbert set up the house purchase before Dr. Gold began serving a two month prison sentence on Jan. 6 trespass charges. Gilbert visited Dr. Gold in jail to request permission to add his personal assistant to the AFLDS payroll for a $36,000 annual salary to do part-time work for the organization. Following her release, in September 2022, she discovered that Gilbert told the organization’s accountant that the assistant was to be paid $144,000 annually by AFLDS, for part-time work, creating the potential for him to demand that she work for him for free in his private law firm (in exchange for that $144k salary) and to possibly even kick back to him part of that exorbitant part-time salary.

Additionally, just before Dr. Gold’s incarceration, Gilbert pushed a particular videography company for AFLDS without mentioning that he was an owner of the company. Then, with Dr. Gold in prison, Gilbert fired a consulting company, preventing their ability to oversee and criticize day-to-day operations at the AFLDS, wasting the $30,000 retainer the company had just been paid. At the same time, Gilbert tried to fire two key AFLDS employees, the national director and the creative director. Gilbert also paid himself bonuses in addition to his own exorbitant salary without even recording them. According to the petition,

a certified public accountant confirmed in October 2022 that Gilbert had, since May 2022, taken at least $5,000 per month (and possibly up to $10,000 per month) in AFLDS funds and appropriated it for his personal use.

Those withdrawals of company funds were not recorded on the company’s books and were not authorized by the Board of Directors or any individual with the authority to authorize them. These amounts were on top of a salary of $15,000 per month being paid to Gilbert.

Just there to take?

Gilbert was essentially firing the productive staff and allegedly replacing them with associates that did nothing to advance AFDLS projects, in an effort to siphon donor funds given to AFLDS without generating any new income, and no new strategy.

Gilbert was not involved in the day-to-day operations of AFLDS. He had no supervisory responsibility over other AFLDS workers. He rarely attended AFLDS meetings, and he did not interact meaningfully with any AFLDS staff. He was neither involved in nor knowledgeable about the content AFLDS produced.

Gilbert’s tasks as “Director of Strategy” primarily involved: making recommendations for potential vendors and employees; handling overflow phone calls for Gold; and doing periodic speaking engagements in Gold’s place, when necessary.

Despite being the “Director of Strategy,” Gilbert substantially failed to proffer ideas or a strategic plan for the development of AFLDS during his tenure.

Power grab

When confronted with his unauthorized firings, hirings and self-payments, Gilbert tried to fire Dr. Gold herself, while defaming her and other AFLDS employees.

After Gold demanded a return of the [$1.1 million “trust”] money, and she discovered and sought investigation into Gilbert’s other frauds — he also likely pilfered at least tens of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit, and possibly more — and his other acts to the nonprofit’s detriment, Gilbert launched a power grab of the company, in an attempt to both retaliate against Gold and obfuscate his crimes and wrongdoing. . .

Actually, though, Gilbert had already maneuvered to attempt to take control of AFLDS before being confronted by Dr. Gold on his money siphoning. After her arrest for the Jan. 6 protest, the idea came up to protect AFLDS from being politically targeted for her Jan. 6 involvement. Gilbert agreed to provide Dr. Gold with a consultancy agreement on behalf of AFLDS, and seed money to start healthcare clinics to meet the demand of AFLDS supporters for alternative healthcare, if she would agree to resign from the Board. Dr. Gold agreed on those conditions, but Gilbert reneged on both the consultancy and the seed money, voiding her resignation. Evidence shows the reneging to have also been pre-planned.

Defendants fraudulently induced Gold to enter the Resignation Agreement by promising that AFLDS would pay her the seed money and enter the consulting agreement, despite, apparently, not having present intent to cause that to happen. This was a material misrepresentation, Defendants knew it was false, Gold did not know, Gold reasonably relied on it, Defendants intended she so rely. . .

Gilbert went on to act as though the resignation was effective, though, continuing to attempt to fire day-to-day staff and publicly soil the reputation of AFLDS with groundless claims.

Gilbert also began spreading false and defamatory statements that [the] Creative Director had stolen $100,000 from AFLDS.

In fact, the creative director was using the AFLDS credit card to purchase equipment and supplies for the AFLDS video studio but Gilbert claimed the credit card purchases were all for his personal use.

Running it into the ground?

Gilbert has not specified what his plan is to keep AFLDS operating with his planned takeover (which is being strongly challenged in court by AFLDS). AFLDS maintains that he wouldn’t be able to replace Dr. Gold even if his interest were to genuinely grow the activities of AFLDS.

The nonprofit depends for its success on the continued control and association of Gold, who is its figurehead and spokesperson, and who is vital to fundraising efforts. If Defendants’ conduct continues, the nonprofit’s future will be compromised. . .

Gold, in particular, has raised more than $25 million in donations for the organization since its formation. More than 2,000 medical professionals have associated with AFLDS, referring to themselves as “America’s Frontline Doctors.”

AFLDS has amassed more than 1 million subscribers to its online content in the two years that it has existed. AFLDS’ success is built on the personality of Gold, who rose to public prominence in 2020 as a critic of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gold is the “face” of AFLDS. Gold frequently engages in public speaking on topics related to AFLDS’ mission and work.

Indeed, multiple substantial donors to AFLDS, including one who donated $5 million to AFLDS in August 2022 and one who has donated $500,000 since 2020, have expressed that they gave to AFLDS solely because Gold was at the helm of the organization.

Furthermore, medical professionals associated with AFLDS, including AFLDS’s physician liaison and physician-pilot liaison, have expressed that they associated with AFLDS, and remain associated with AFLDS, because of Gold’s connection to the organization.

Gilbert and the Professional Rules of Conduct

Notwithstanding all the above facts, Gilbert went ahead and signed his false claims, that the property was purchased personally by Dr. Gold and that the purchase was without his approval, both statements made “under penalty of pedury [sic].”

The Rules Regulating The Florida Bar specifically prohibit perjury.

Florida caselaw prohibits lawyers from presenting false testimony or evidence. [p. 292].

Florida’s Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions provides an example of a punishment meted out to a lawyer who perjured himself.

in The Florida Bar v. Tipler … the respondent [attorney] was disbarred after being charged with perjury, a first-degree misdemeanor. The respondent pleaded guilty to interference with judicial proceedings, a misdemeanor. [p. 41].

The future

Attorney Jose Jimenez is optimistic that Gilbert’s attempt to seize control of AFLDS, whether as an opportunist or as a “plant,” will fail.

the facts are clear and fully documented, and we are confident the legal process will fully exonerate Dr. Gold as AFLDS’ President and courageous leader and allow AFLDS to continue its critical mission of saving lives and preserving our civil liberties.

Questions

Answers are still being sought from Gilbert about the strange circumstances in which he has attempted to replace the doctor who founded AFLDS, and who has brought funding to the organization to allow it to build into a legal and medical watchdog and activist association, with non-doctors who have not brought any funding to the non-profit:

Did you suddenly see an “opportunity” to take over AFLDS and give yourself a salary? or
Were you “planted” in AFLDS to bring down the organization?
Why would you take money from AFLDS donors while not developing any programming or activities for the organization?

Gilbert corruption

Joey Gilbert’s schemes, sanctions, reprimands, suspensions, political grifting, attack on Trump and assistance to illegals evading ICE are documented here: