The Pulte Problem: Part I
“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” — Matthew 6:3–4
Pulte and Twitter “Philanthropy”
News outlets, social media platforms and, now, quite a few retail investment communities are practically salivating over Bill Pulte’s (@pulte) so-called philanthropy, which is no surprise given the influence and popularity of Mr. Beast (another one of Pulte’s pals), but there is more to the story than a magnanimous millionaire simply “helping people” and changing lives. A lot more, in fact.
For those of you who don’t know, I have spent the past three years researching corruption and criminality in capital markets in order to better educate myself and the public about the shortcomings and failures of our current market models. I came for a stock early in the GME saga, but I stayed because I truly think a transparent system is tantamount to mitigating the damage done by years of misuse and abuse of money in every sector. I like to read and research, and I’ve looked into quite a few shady characters in my time here. Bill Pulte is one of them.
I started asking questions when Bill Pulte first showed up in the retail investment community two years ago, and I was repeatedly ignored. Those questions were: What were his political motivations? How was he connected to Mitt Romney? Little did I know that I was poking the bear, so to speak. I never got answers, but we will delve more into that later. For now, let’s look at the most obvious and glaring problem — a person who declares his own good will and charity at every turn and consistently demands praise and attention for what anyone with common sense and integrity knows should be done without pomp or circumstance.
There are many signs that Pulte is not at all what he seems. In fact, it has become painfully obvious to me and quite a few others that Bill Pulte is very likely running a con on everyone and anyone who crosses his path and has been from day one. His Twitter “philanthropy”, like many sketchy so-called philanthropists before him, ultimately presents as little more than an overtly-dramatic, ridiculously embellished, and ultimately childish façade masking a deeply selfish and egotistical quest to curry political favor and situate himself in the Republican party — specifically the Trump camp, and use other people’s desperation and suffering to do so.
One thing you should know about Bill Pulte is that he blocks anyone who questions his motives or even likes tweets of those who question him — a large number of whom present those questions in a polite, civil manner. It can be confounding given his interest in politics that he is so averse to criticism and questions, but it gives us a great look into what his political rhetoric might consist of.
The cultivated and carefully tended garden of hero worship Pulte grows is not only organized to those ends, but is also perpetuated by a relatively delusional, and frequently aggressive, core group of followers who are deeply reminiscent of those cheesy archetypal high school bullies from after school specials we all saw way back when and were told in no uncertain terms stand up to. Of course, in true political fashion, Bill rarely does the dirty work himself. Instead, his followers, whether by direction, by being hired, or by some bizarre allegiance to their man-god, will attack anyone and everyone who stands in their way — often threatening, doxing, attacking, blackballing, and manipulating those victims to suit their agenda. I have read countless stories and received quite a few direct messages from people who are too terrified to speak up or speak out, and I think there are many more who simply remain silent. Or are maybe under an NDA, which Pulte is purportedly a big fan of.
All of this “humanitarian” behavior, believe it or not, is cheered on by Bill Pulte, philanthropist extraordinaire, usually in public community spaces on Twitter where he sets himself up as the centerpiece of a community that used to be focused on — well — learning about stocks and markets but somehow ended up revolving around Bill’s favorite subject — himself.
And in the grand scheme of things, Bill Pulte is a drop in the proverbial bucket. The problem, though, is that we have underestimated the larger threat that someone like Bill Pulte in a position of significant power could pose, and while I absolutely, unequivocally understand conservative, independent, and democratic platforms and arguments, and I truly respect the right for people to support those things, Bill Pulte is not someone any of us should want having a say regarding how this country is run. Period. Why? Well, let’s talk about that for a moment…
I was far from the first to question Pulte’s motives. In fact, when I went back in time and tracked his social media usage, I found a lot of interesting tweets that indicate a wash-rinse-repeat cycle of entering an online community, pretending to be a champion for them, making himself out to be a hero with a big bankroll, using their “terminology” and sayings, and eventually, upon being called out for his contradictory behavior and/or questioned about how he uses donations and in fact profits from these communities, being forced to move onto another, potentially more vulnerable group. I know that he inserted himself into the retail stock crowds, often pumping insiders and folks who have been here for quite some time for enough information to make himself sound familiar with their plight and interested in social justice and market reform. All the while, it seems Mr. Pulte was setting up what many call a “long con”. Read more about that here:
Bill Pulte: Philanthropist or Con Man?
Why Is This Billionaire Giving Away Money on Twitter? Bill Pulte ostensibly launched #TwitterPhilanthropy to help others, but he might be its biggest beneficiary.
https://www.fatherly.com/news/why-is-this-billionaire-giving-away-money-on-twitter
Data Grab?
This leads me to my next concern, which is that Bill Pulte alone has access to thousands upon thousands of peoples’ personal information by way of his “philanthropy”. There have been a lot of indicators and concerns that Mr. Pulte is potentially using the information he is able to gather by getting people’s CashApp information to sell data and information to interested third parties, including but not limited to corporations, data brokers, financial services companies, even (and maybe especially) politically motivated groups.
This article sums it up quite nicely:
Grandson Of Real Estate Magnate Is Trending On Twitter For Giving Out $100,000, But It Looks Like A Data Harvesting Scam
The Charity Sector Plague of Data Fishing
https://agitator.thedonorvoice.com/the-charity-sector-plague-of-data-fishing/
Sound like no big deal? Take a minute to think about how much time we spend on social media, reading the internet, or watching TV. Data points give away so much and allow all of the above-mentioned groups, and many others, to plot, predict and influence our beliefs, values, interests, and to manipulate those (in often very subtle but effective ways). Someone once criticized me saying, “Well, they have all my data already, who cares?” I care. Here’s why…
Your data points are constantly changing, organic information subject to so many factors, and because you may change unpredictably, the more data points someone has and the more “real-time” it is, the more accurately they can predict and plot a your next purchase, your next investment, your next vote, and so on. It can get pretty depressing when you understand the true value of this seemingly unimportant information can affect us.
Armed with that data, much of it gleaned in deeply unethical and morally reprehensible ways, companies and politicians and whoever else can easily and surreptitiously push things into our online life that seem relatively benign and innocuous, but rest assured, people wouldn’t be paying such big money for it if it didn’t work. These articles do a great job of showcasing the damage having your data and personal information can do to you and the way you view the world:
We’re Dangerously Close to Giving Big Tech Control of Our Thoughts
https://time.com/6191973/big-tech-freedom-of-thought/.
A Closer Look at who Charity Fraud Targets and Why
So, the question remains, and Bill hasn’t yet responded to mine or others’ requests for comment: Do you sell that information or hand it over to anyone? Have you been compiling it to drive your own political campaign? Inquiring minds want to know.
Where’s the Money Coming From?
From the minute Bill Pulte appeared with his promises of helping people, many skeptics have raised questions about the murky nature of exactly who is footing the bill for all this “do-gooding”, and there have consistently been more questions than answers. In fact, since 2019, these questions have received no response or a tangled mess of spreadsheets or dramatic declarations from Mr. Pulte instead of clear, concise answers addressing these and other concerns.
He asks for donations and subscriptions, and then he claims to be giving that money away, so how much has actually come from Mr. Pulte himself? How much came from government loans or grants, if any? Again, he refuses to respond when asked. Instead, predictably, his followers jump into the comments sections and defend him using empty logical fallacies to detract from what should be a series of simple and clear answers. In fact, very little reliable, documented, concrete evidence exists that there are more than a handful of legitimate real people getting any money at all. I mean, a few probably do, but some of those people had a lot to say about Bill, and most of it was not very nice.
The only people who still favor Bill Pulte seem to be those who desperately want something from him or are potentially hired by him.
Cue the marketing and PR firms who seem to have wiped the internet of all the things we ultimately dug up on Bill and his “activities”, which ultimately proved that Bill Pulte is in all of this for his own personal and political gain, just as I had initially feared.
A lot of people seem to be getting hurt, far more than are being helped, and this might extend far beyond the boundaries of retail investment communities. How far does it go, I wonder?
The Aggressive Politicization of Retail Investors
While there was outright criticism and a hell of a lot of questions from the minute he appeared about Bill Pulte and his intentions, ultimately, a lot of that disappeared or was washed away by the social media machine (and probably a pretty decent social media marketing team). Thus, the internet became a landscape that ONLY promoted Bill Pulte and praised him for all the good he was doing. Gotta clean up that image, I guess. One would think I was relieved to see only good things, but I knew in my gut that it was far too tidy to be an honest look into who this man was, especially given what I had already learned from various sources, many of whom chose to remain anonymous for fear of being threatened, doxxed, and harassed, if not worse.
We (me and some other very concerned people, a few of whom were relatively close to Pulte at one point) had to dig really hard to find anything that criticized and questioned him, and it is very difficult for me to imagine this was a coincidence. Still, we found a good deal of concerning material, some of which I have shared above. Not to mentioned hundreds, if not thousands of deleted tweets. Hmmmm, suspicious? Maybe. Maybe not.
And then I hit the motherload…The Straw Donor Scheme which indicated relatively clearly that Pulte made a shell company in order to donate to Trump. That’s when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this had always been political for him and that he was also, simultaneously setting himself up to take over PHM, which I will discuss at length in Part II.
Guess Who?
Shell company made illegal $500K donation to pro-Trump super PAC, watchdog alleges
When I saw these pictures and heard Bill calling the event a “rally” among a slew of other cringey moments shared with me in confidence by several others, I felt visually and rhetorically bombarded empty political ideology, and it was sickening. I didn’t necessarily care that Pulte was political. That part wasn’t what ultimately bothered me. It was about the lie and the misrepresentations of his intentions and why he was inserting himself into retail stock communities not for fair and free markets, but for obvious personal gain. It was so transparent at this point that I was stunned that anyone even found him remotely authentic. But they did. Or they were hired to push forth that messaging. I wasn’t sure, but I knew it was problematic. The financial aspect of this “rally” alone was concerning, but with the imagery, I was doubly put off. As were many others.
Note: Money was apparently given out at this event to buy shares of PHM under the condition that Pulte’s close-friend and/or associate, @kaismaalej retain voting rights for 20 years. See contract below:
Bill Pulte was obviously laying the groundwork for a political run. Big deal, right? Not really, but he was also pushing politics into a place that I and many others like me had worked incredibly hard over the past few years to keep non-partisan and objective — and relatively successfully. Every retail investor that I have known throughout this experience (I get around, lol) and in my time in these communities has always been very clear about keeping their politics out of it as best as they can. Even when it inevitably came up, we had always come together and tried to step back to maintain our focus, to make sure people from all walks of life and beliefs could effectively tackle we all knew was the problem — markets, corruption, and money. The overarching sentiment was, “Hey, you want to have your politics? Go for it, but don’t bring them here.” And yet here we were, suddenly and inexplicably welcoming it with open arms.
Pulte and His Trump Obsession
Quickly after this so-called rally event, where contracts such as the one pictured here were distributed by Pulte’s wing man, Kais Maalej…The linking of BBBY to Trump for that retail community became forced, aggressive, and downright creepy.
Most retail investors I know are non-partisan or at the very least question the political framework and party politics as a way to keep the public from looking at the root of our tragically corrupted economy.
Finally, there is the Pam Bondi situation. Pam Bondi is the former Florida Attorney General who sued Pulte then later worked for Ballard where Pulte used her lobbying services. Isn’t that super kind of him? So charitable! Small world, I guess. Pam is also a very prominent and well-known figure in the Trump camp and on his impeachment team. And while Pulte has repeatedly tried to ingratiate himself into the Trump inner circle, he has succeeded only in looking like a desperate child begging to be picked for the kickball team. If I didn’t think he was such a scumbag, I would actually be embarrassed for him.
See more about Pam’s colorful history here:
Florida settles complaint against home builder Pulte for allegedly substandard construction The office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said it conducted a two year investigation revealing that Pulte built Florida homes that violated building codes
The Trump Foundation-Pam Bondi scandal
In the end, I think more than enough people see through Pulte’s flimsy veneer. But I worry that the social media machine is going to, as usual, be manipulated by companies like these (see below) to lift this man up as some sort of hero, which he is most decidedly not. Anyway, stay smart, everyone. It’s a madhouse out there.
All in all, in this document alone, there are enough reasons to question Bill Pulte and what he is ultimately here for. But stay tuned for Part II! There’s more! Here’s a hint of what’s to come!
