A controversial Paul and serial sperm donor attempted to defraud a City Council member using fake AI-generated recommendations, Queens prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Jonathan Rinaldi, 47, known as “The Sperminator,” was charged with three counts of forgery and 15 counts of possession of a counterfeit instrument for posting false articles purporting to be from the Post, prosecutors announced.
Rinaldi allegedly began the scam shortly after announcing his candidacy for the 29th Queens City Council seat, regularly embedding legitimate polls and news articles with fake AI content on his social media accounts.
The accused fraudster was all smiles in court, but remained defiant in an interview with the Post after leaving the courtroom.
“Everyone knows that if I win, I’ll be at the prosecutor’s office talking politics and shopping right now,” he said. “That’s the thing.
“Everyone should rise up with their weapons and come and bring me back here,” he added. “What are they going to do? Start regulating people’s movement?”
The accused fraudster also asserted his First Amendment rights.
“The First Amendment is absolute,” he said. “And I’m allowed to create any kind of content I want, just like anyone else.”
But prosecutors argued he crossed the line.
On October 20, he used the Queen’s Jewish Federation logo to claim that the organization supported his candidacy, but it did not.
When QJA’s head called about the ruse, Rinaldi shamelessly admitted he had to cut corners, prosecutors said.
“When you are trying to fight the establishment, I have to use every means available to me, because I already know…I already know that you are never going to give me support,” he is said to have said in the recorded call.
“This is politics,” he is quoted as saying. “I’m just using asymmetric warfare. I can’t use the same tactics that the establishment uses, so-called quote-unquote methods.”
Rinaldi is also accused of posting a fake Facebook post on Oct. 4 claiming that former City Councilman Robert Holden was supporting him in the race, and using Google searches and AI-generated images to create a fake report.
Other fake posts on Facebook and Instagram allegedly claimed endorsements from NYPD 112 Precinct, PS 101 Elementary School, and Asian Wave Alliance, and used AI-generated videos to sell lies.
None of that is true and this organization expresses no political support.
On Oct. 24, he even concocted a fake news article claiming his opponent had dropped out of the race, the DA’s office said.
“Rinaldi posted several similar fake articles on the same subject; one article was created using CNN branding, another using Daily News branding, and two additional videos were created to imitate the fictitious broadcast,” prosecutors said.
“Enough is enough,” Queens Prosecutor Melinda Katz said in a statement. “In today’s world, it is important to hold people accountable for gross factual errors.”
Rinaldi is a Republican who has run unsuccessfully for local and state legislatures, often without party support.
He has been accused of political mischief in the past and was arrested in 2023 for interfering with a polling place in Queens.
In April, longtime Queens Assemblyman Alan Hevesi accused Rinaldi of trying to pull him away from the Democratic Party line by falsifying Hevesi’s Voter Registration with the Working Families Party.
He is also a controversial figure outside of politics.
He has boasted in the past that he can “save” women who receive his “superior” sperm from spending thousands of dollars on sperm banks and fertility treatments, and said he prefers to seal deals with a simple handshake.
He also said that he sacrificed all of his parental rights and decisions to ensure that the sperm donor could financially support the children.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on fraud charges in August.
