WASHINGTON – The “Black Insurrectionist,” the anonymous social media persona behind some of the most widely circulated conspiracy theories about the 2024 election, can be traced to a man from upstate New York.

He is also white.

With a profile photo of a black soldier and the tagline “I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS,” the platform X account amassed more than 300,000 followers while posting questionable claims about Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Some were bolstered by former President Donald Trump, his running mate from Ohio Sen. JD Vance and their Republican allies in Congress. The craziest claims have come in the final weeks of the campaign.

Last month, the account published what Black Insurrectionist claimed was a confirmation from an ABC News employee, who claimed Harris was asked questions before the network’s debate with Trump — which ABC News strongly disputed. However, Trump approved, declaring: “I love the person.” More recently, Black Insurrectionist published a baseless allegation of inappropriate behavior between Walz and a student decades ago, a lie that U.S. intelligence officials said sprang from a Russian disinformation campaign.

The reach the Black Insurrectionist account achieved with help from Trump and his allies shows how easily unverified information from dubious sources can be spread online to shape public opinion. The speed and scope of disinformation has been an animating force in the presidential campaign, with the potential to sway the outcome of a close election.

The Black Insurrectionist account is directly linked to Jason G. Palmer, who has his own dubious backstory, starting with the fact that he is not black, according to an Associated Press review of public records, open source code and interviews with half a dozen people who interacted closely with Palmer over the past two decades. The documents and personal accounts paint a portrait of a man who has been repeatedly accused of defrauding business partners and lenders, who has struggled with drug addiction and whose home was raided by the FBI more than a decade ago. He also owes more than $6.7 million in back taxes to New York state.

“He’s far from African-American,” said Kathleen Albano, who said her late husband was involved in a failed business venture with Palmer.

In emails and phone calls, Palmer, 51, made a series of seemingly contradictory claims about his ties to the account, which was deactivated last week several hours after the AP first contacted Palmer for comment.

He acknowledged in an email that he was involved in the account, but said he did not create it. He also claimed he owned it at one point before selling it in April or May to a person he declined to identify.

“I don’t know what’s going on with this account,” Palmer wrote in an email Thursday.

But in an interview Tuesday, he said he participated in making allegations about Walz that were posted on the account this month. And he suggested that he work as a “researcher” with a wider group.

“We did it with big people. National people,” Palmer said. “I have no comment on anything else about that.”

He also said the account was primarily managed by a friend of his who is Black. He repeatedly declined to identify who it was, or put the AP in touch with the person.

A spokesperson for X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.

The AP traced the account to Palmer based on posts by the Black Insurrectionist that included biographical details about living in New York state, a screen name and an email address. Those details were cross-referenced with information available online that the AP tracked down with the help of Gisela Pérez de Acha, an open-source reporting specialist for the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkley.

A video posted in March by Black Insurrectionist shows a computer screen displaying the document containing Trump’s election case in Georgia. His initials “JP” are visible in an icon in the browser toolbar. And Palmer’s email address can be seen in the corner of the screen, indicating he used it to log into the state’s online court system.

The email address is linked to a phone number, according to open-source data provider Osint.Industries, which is listed for Palmer in New York court records. The same email is also linked to a Skype account with the username “jg palmrt”, according to open source data provider Epieos. Palmer’s middle initial is “G.”

Palmer also used similar iterations of the email address in the past, according to court records.

A separate Black Insurrectionist post on X from January 2024 complained about Microsoft Network’s content moderation policy and included a screenshot revealing that a person with the username “jg palmrt” had posted a comment on a news story censored by MSN.

The suggestion that Palmer was involved in an account spreading falsehoods about the upcoming election was not a surprise to those who have had business and personal dealings with Palmer over the past two decades.

“He owes me a ton of money,” said Albano, whose late husband had a business relationship with Palmer. “He has a way of getting people in. I always had his number. I knew exactly who he was. But unfortunately, my husband got caught up in a lot of these deals.”

Albano said Palmer bought a Webster, New York, home from her and her husband but failed to make payments. She said Palmer persuaded her husband at an investment firm to get the money back, which also ended badly.

“None of that ever came to fruition,” Albano said.

Unlike other Palmer business partners, Albano said the couple chose not to sue because “you can’t get blood from a stone.”

Palmer denied Albano’s account. He said Albano’s late husband was his accountant and he was paying off a mortgage on the home. He denied that they ever had extensive business dealings.

In the mid-2000s, Palmer started a real estate business, buying up commercial properties in downtown Rochester. It ended with a series of lawsuits from creditors and former business partners, seeking tens of millions of dollars in unpaid loans and assets. Palmer blamed his problems with the venture, in part, on an opioid addiction he had at the time.

Some former business partners alleged that Palmer tried to take control of buildings using documents with their signatures forged, according to court records.

In a 2020 case in Oneida County, New York, a forensic specialist conducted a detailed analysis of a document deeding an apartment complex to a company in which Palmer had a stake. The specialist concluded that “the evidence indicates that the signatures and notary seal” were created “by cut and paste or digital manipulation.”

Palmer said it was actually his former business partner, William Mendick, who had defrauded him. The case, brought by Palmer, was dismissed in 2022.

Maureen Bass, a bankruptcy attorney in Rochester, said she was not shocked by Palmer’s connection to an X account spreading conspiracy theories. Representing Wells Fargo in a commercial foreclosure case against Palmer, Bass recalled that he once sent a lengthy e-mail manifesto to her old company accusing local government officials of conspiring against him.

“It was messy. He had become a victim of the ‘axis of evil’. Politicians had done things to him and taken his assets,” Bass said. “So this doesn’t surprise me.”