Man charged with impersonating Trump to defraud hundreds

Joshua Hall is charged with fraud and identity theft after federal prosecutors said he misrepresented himself or others while soliciting funds for a purported Trump reelection organization that did not exist.

Instead, Hall used the funds raised — thousands of dollars — for his own personal living expenses, according to the criminal complaint.

The alleged scheme involved the “creation and use of social media accounts bearing those family members’ names and photographs,” the complaint said.

“Hall used those accounts to amass more than 100,000 followers on social media and obtain media coverage, a public platform he then exploited to confer on himself and the Fictitious Political Organization a false imprimatur of close ties with the President’s family and to encourage victims to make monetary contributions to the Fictitious Political Organization,” the complaint said.