New York PR Firm Revealed to be a Scam

The New York Post revealed that a New York PR agency appears to be run by a scammer. According to the paper, "Corey von Furstenberg" claimed to be CEO and Creative Director of Von Fürstenberg Creative Group, a communications and crisis management firm supposedly headquartered in New York City. The agency turned out to be effectively non-existent.

The Scheme

As The Post first reported — and international media has since picked up — the individual claimed to be a wealthy scion of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and, on that basis, secured a lease on a $15,000-a-month SoHo penthouse in a six-story building. A lawsuit filed by the building's owner claims the scammer stated he earned over $1 million a year as the head of Von Furstenberg Creative Group and that the firm represented Hillary Clinton, Mariah Carey, and Paula Deen. None of it was true.

The Red Flags

The Post quoted a public relations professional describing the firm's website — since removed — as carrying every hallmark of a fabrication. The individual claimed to be a Brown University graduate. The school had no record of him.

The Lesson

Verification is the entire discipline of PR. Fake firms with real-looking websites, invented client rosters, and inflated founder biographies periodically surface in New York — the largest PR market in the world produces the highest concentration of both real operators and pretenders. Journalists, landlords, and prospective clients should verify the client roster with the named clients directly, and cross-check founder credentials against university and industry registries before signing any agreement.