Douglass Mackey, known online as on-line influencer Ricky Vaughn , was taken into custody Wednesday morning in West Palm Beach, according to federal prosecutors in New York.
Authorities say Mackey, 31, exploited his substantial social media following by encouraging people to vote in the 2016 presidential election by social media and text.
Remember the account known as "Ricky Vaughn?"
The DOJ just announced the man behind that account, Douglass Mackey, has been charged with election interference stemming from actions in 2016 pic.twitter.com/WS5Eh6UIv4
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) January 27, 2021
He has now been charged by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn with depriving individuals of their constitutional right to vote. Prosecutors said he tricked nearly 5000 Democrats into thinking they could cast their ballot by text, depriving Hillary Clinton of votes.