We’ve documented how Newsmax is among right-wing websites that are running “sponsored” articles publicizing and defending Guo Wengui, who was recently arrested for financial fraud. The name listed as serving as a “sponsor” for the Newsmax articles is “Token Team,” which we have assumed is a shady, mysterious Guo front company — but it appears it may be more than that. A November 2018 Newsmax press release declared:
Newsmax TV, the fastest-growing cable news channel in the nation, announced today it is joining with blockchain ad-tech innovator The Token Team, LLC, for accepting advertising payments.
The relationship immediately provides Newsmax TV with access to a cutting-edge portfolio of blockchain and digital asset technologies and services.
[…]“More and more we have seen companies in the crypto business seeking to advertise with us, or make payments with us,” said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media, Inc. “The Token Team brings the expertise with their suite of crypto, blockchain, and digital asset services and technologies that will expand the playing field for both our companies.”
The Token Team, a digital marketing and ad-tech company, services the cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital asset communities. With this agreement, Newsmax TV gives The Token Team exclusive access to its television and digital distribution channels for crypto, blockchain, and digital asset advertisers.
Token Team Chairman Vito Fossella said, “As Newsmax Media, especially Newsmax TV, continues to grow and break ground, The Token Team is proud to join forces and provide blockchain technology and crypto entities the opportunity to tell their stories.”
Newsmax TV has continuously pushed the boundaries to establish itself as a leading provider of new age, innovative digital multimedia advertising.
“This new venture with Newsmax TV is an exciting development for our company as we continue to define ourselves as THE go-to crypto-blockchain-focused ad-tech/media and marketing company. This monumental venture allows our company to further expand our service offering to the rapidly growing crypto community,” said Token Team founder John Tabacco. “We are excited to see what other innovations this joint venture will spark for the global digital asset community.”
If the names associated with Token Team sound familiar, they should. John Tabacco had a show on Newsmax TV for a while, “Table Talk,” which Newsmax claimed was a “political reality show” purporting to take viewers “behind the scenes and to dinner tables of regular everyday Americans” (but only if they were conservative, apparently). He also filled other host roles on the channel, most notably when he was designated to read an on-air statement trying to stave off defamation claims by voting-tech companies Dominion and Smartmatic after the channel falsely accused them of taking part in voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Tabacco is currently working as the VP of “digital asset strategy” for a “cannabis holding company” called MJ Holdings and is trying to launch a cryptocurrency aimed at conservatives.
Fossella is a politician whose career as a member of Congress infamously imploded in 2008 when an arrest for DUI led to the revelation that he was living with a woman and their child in Washington while also maintaining a wife and family back home in Staten Island. Fossella has since wormed his way back into politics, currently serving as Staten Island borough president.
The link between Newsmax, Token Team and crypto is interesting because one of the schemes Guo was arrested for involved a cryptocurrency scam.
Are Tabacco, Fossella and Token Team linked to Guo or his scam? Is Tabacco and Fossella’s Token Team the “Token Team” buying this propaganda? We have no idea. But it’s weird that the buyer of the pro-Guo paid articles would have the same name as Tabacco and Fossella’s company and that they have a previous relationship with Newsmax.
Side note: One of the authors of the Guo propaganda, aside from Dan Bongino lackey Matt Palumbo, is a right-wing podcaster named Kelly John Walker. It appears that Walker was arrested and convicted last year for threatening to zip-tie an elementary school principal because a friend’s child missed a school field trip because had to quarantine due to COVID exposure. That’s the caliber of people who are moonlighting by spreading Guo propaganda.