Update, October 31: Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman are claiming that the Lorraine Parsons hoax was created by their enemies — possibly enemies within Mueller's office — to attempt to discredit Mueller's "real victims."

The woman to whom we allegedly offered payment–Lorraine Parsons–does not exist. The allegations are an outright joke. This entire backstory is a hoax designed to distract the nation from my press

conference on Thursday, which is where all eyes need to be. — Jack Burkman (@Jack_Burkman) October 31, 2018

Someone inside Mueller's office likely sent out the hoax email claiming to be a woman offered payment to make an accusation against Mueller! They know that Mueller's real victims are coming forward! Tick tock… — Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 31, 2018

We remain very confused!

Previously: On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Special Counsel Robert Mueller told reporters that Mueller's office had informed the FBI of an alleged plot to frame Mueller for sexual assault. "When we learned last week of allegations that women were offered money to make false claims about the Special Counsel, we immediately referred the matter to the FBI for investigation," said Peter Carr, the spokesperson. Carr's statement unleashed a torrent of reporting about an extremely confusing plot linked to two prominent right-wing operatives, Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl.

For a number of political reporters, this story began about a couple of weeks ago, when they received an email from a woman identifying herself as Lorraine Parsons. "Parsons" alleged that she had received a phone call from a man who claimed to work for Jack Burkman. This man, according to the email, offered to pay off her $34,000 credit card debt and give her an additional $20,000 in exchange for "mak[ing] accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller, and… sign[ing] a sworn affidavit to that effect." ("Parsons" allegedly worked with Mueller at a law firm in the 1970s.) You can read the full email by clicking on Yashar Ali's tweet below and zooming in.

13 days ago I received this tip alleging an attempt to pay off women to make up accusations of sexual misconduct against Special Counsel Bob Mueller. Other reporters received the same email. Now the Special Counsel's office is telling us they've referred the matter to the FBI pic.twitter.com/oqh4Fnel5u — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 30, 2018

Naturally, the reporters who received this email looked into it further — and discovered that "Parsons" didn't seem to exist. First of all, she refused to speak on the phone with any reporter who tried to reach out to her. Ed Krassenstein — best known for his tweets calling for Trump's impeachment — writes that he ran background checks on her and found that no one named Lorraine Parsons lived in Fort Myers, Florida, where she claimed to live. Jane Mayer, of the New Yorker, asked the law firm where Mueller used to work if they had any record of a Lorraine working there; they said no.

Okay, so someone is pretending to be a woman who was offered money by Jack Burkman to make false allegations of sexual misconduct against Robert Mueller. Are you with us so far? Krassenstein, the reporter and #resistance tweeter, got a hint of who that someone might be when he called the phone allegedly affiliated with "Parsons."

After calling the number, we promptly received what we viewed as a threatening text message back, which read, "You're in over your head…. Drop this". The message included the home addresses of two of our editors, including myself. Then out of nowhere, we received a phone call from another number originating from the same area code, of a man who claimed to be Mike Wilcox of a company called 'Surefire Intelligence'. He again threatened us, telling us to "stop communicating with" the woman who had contacted us previously. (Both phone numbers have since been disconnected).

[Hill Reporter]

Surefire Intelligence is ostensibly a private intelligence agency founded by former Israeli spies. However, all indications point to Surefire Intelligence being a fraudulent operation:

Some LinkedIn profiles for supposed employees of the company use fake profile headshots. Talia Yaniv, whose page listes her as Surefire's "Tel Aviv station chief," uses a photo of Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli. The company's "station chief" in DC uses a photo of Sigourney Weaver's husband. And its deputy director of operations ripped off a headshot from a Michigan pastor. Among the little public information available on the company is a pair of suspiciously vague posts on the publishing platform Medium. Both posts were written to appear as journalistic exposes of the company but neither does much beyond extolling its supposed expertise and impressive client list — without naming any of the clients. Both the posts were written by self-described journalists whose Twitter accounts were created in the last three months, and neither has done much beyond promote their Medium posts on Surefire.

[The Daily Beast]

Surefire Intelligence's domain records are associated with the email address of Jacob Wohl, a right-wing troll best known for being charged with securities fraud before he turned 20 and tweeting about dubious overheard conversations in hipster coffee shops. Wohl has not confirmed that he is behind Surefire — but NBC News reporters found that the intelligence agency's official phone number redirects to Wohl's mother's voicemail.

Wohl declined to comment on his involvement with Surefire Intelligence. However, his email is listed in the domain records for Surefire Intelligence's website and calls to a number listed on the Surefire Intelligence website went to a voicemail message which provided another phone number, listed in public records as belonging to Wohl's mother. Wohl stopped responding to NBC News after being told Surefire's official phone number redirects to his mother's voicemail.

[NBC News]

Also, Wohl's picture literally shows up on a Surefire managing partner's LinkedIn page:

Odd. Jacob Wohl says he doesn't know nuttin' about Surefire Intelligence, the firm tied to the bizarre Mueller allegations. Take a look at the photos below of Mathhew Cohen, head of 'Surefire,' and of Jacob Wohl. pic.twitter.com/Q1rAW4wkPO — Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) October 30, 2018

Meanwhile, Burkman — who is best known for promoting conspiracy theories about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich — is hyping a press conference that will supposedly "reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's sex assault victims":

Some sad news. On Thursday, November 1, at the Rosslyn

Holiday Inn at noon, we will reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert

Mueller's sex assault victims. I applaud the courage and dignity and

grace and strength of my client. pic.twitter.com/wZVQeHD45r — Jack Burkman (@Jack_Burkman) October 30, 2018

And Wohl has been tweeting in apparent support of Burkman's claims:

Several media sources tell me that a scandalous story about Mueller is breaking tomorrow. Should be interesting. Stay tuned! — Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 30, 2018

So far, Lorraine Parsons appears to be a hoax, and Surefire Intelligence appears to be a hoax. But there is one final element of this story that is not a hoax, and that is a woman named Jennifer Taub, who really does exist, who got an email from someone at Surefire Intelligence making an offer very similar to the one described in "Parsons'" email.

Jennifer Taub, an associate professor at Vermont Law School, received an email from a man using a Surefire Intelligence email address around the same time, on October 22. "It's my understanding that you may have had some past encounters with Robert Mueller," he told Taub, according to the email she forwarded me on Tuesday afternoon. "I would like to discuss those encounters with you." (Taub told me she has never had any encounters with Mueller, though she does appear on CNN at times as an expert commentator.) "I believe a basic telephone call, for which I would compensate you at whatever rate you see fit (inside reason), would be a good place to start," the man continued. "My organization is conducting an examination of Robert Mueller's past. Tell me a decent method to contact you by telephone (or Signal, which would be ideal) and a beginning rate to talk with you about all encounters you've had with Special Counsel Mueller. We would likewise pay you for any references that you may have. Lastly, I would appreciate your discretion here, as this is a very sensitive matter." Taub told me she forwarded the email to the special counsel's office, noting that she did not plan to respond.

[The Atlantic]

Confused? Us too! We'll update this post if and when things become clearer.