A Washington think tank that used fake Twitter and YouTube accounts to amplify its content, and whose cofounder has dubious credentials and a history of shady online activity, is losing key sponsors and has apologized for some of its actions in the wake of a BuzzFeed News investigation.

After being alerted to the fake accounts, Twitter initially left most of them online. It then suspended all remaining accounts Tuesday after BuzzFeed News asked about a Texas lawyer whose photo was stolen and used for a fake profile.

The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that its cofounder, James Scott, “voluntarily decided to step away from ICIT,” and that it will hire a law firm to conduct “a review of the claims in the article against” him.

The statement sent by ICIT’s remaining cofounder, Parham Eftekhari, apologized for the use of fake Twitter accounts, and the fact that they used stolen photos from people such as a Texas lawyer, a college student, and the CEO of a cybersecurity company.

“In review, I was never personally involved with the social media activities, but as a cofounder of ICIT, I regret and apologize that this occurred and take responsibility and want to make things right,” he said.

Eftekhari also for the first time acknowledged that prior to starting ICIT he partnered with Scott on a company called SpitFire Alliance that sold a range of dubious social media marketing services such as sending “1,000 LinkedIn messages to targeted industry players from your account." Eftekhari told BuzzFeed News he was not yet involved with the company when it sold those services, but was working with Scott when SpitFire later promised to connect clients with "the most elite of the D.C. region’s international powerbase."

The pair then went on to create ICIT, which bills itself as “America’s cybersecurity think tank” and organizes events that attract leaders from the NSA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Election Commission, and NASA. ICIT’s government connections helped it secure lucrative sponsorships from cybersecurity vendors like Centrify, McAfee, Micro Focus, Anomali, and KPMG.



Last week, BuzzFeed News revealed that Scott, ICIT’s top expert and cofounder, is actually a man named James Scott Brown who has a history of selling fake and spammy social media services and fabricating online profiles and praise for himself, and whose primary expertise in cybersecurity is a series of self-published books he only began releasing in 2013.

The investigation also showed that a network of roughly 45 Twitter accounts with stolen profile photos was used by ICIT to amplify its content and promote Scott’s e-book about information warfare. Fake accounts on YouTube also uploaded ICIT content and showered videos of Scott with comments that labeled him “the most important figure in cyberwar thought leadership” and “the most dangerous man on the planet.”

After the story was published, ICIT went into damage control: It removed the webpage that listed its top sponsors; deleted an online endorsement from retired Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the former head of the NSA and US Cyber Command; and removed Scott from the speakers page of its upcoming event. ICIT also disabled comments on its YouTube videos and removed the flattering comments about Scott that were posted by fake accounts.