Pirate's Booty founder stages ‘attempted coup' by declaring himself mayor of Long Island village — residents say old beef to blame
The creator of popular cheese-buff brand Pirate's Booty is staging an 'attempted coup' of a Long Island village — as residents speculate he's trying to get back at them due to a longstanding beef.
Robert Ehrlich, 66, alongside a three-man crew, stormed into Sea Cliff's village hall Monday, declaring that he was its new mayor and everyone was fired before he demanded an office.
Town officials say the standoff lasted about an hour — with police eventually showing up to defuse the situation before Ehrlich and his fellow insurrectionists left peacefully without being arrested.
'He is f–king crazy,' one Sea Cliff resident, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of legal retaliation, told The Post Friday — the day Ehrlich was seen waving a massive American flag on the streets of the Nassau County enclave.
'It was an attempted coup.'
He and other villagers said they believe this is simply Ehrlich's way of retaliating against the village after defeating him in a 2003 federal lawsuit in which the Pirate's Booty founder accused officials of harassing the local businesses he owned because he was Jewish.
Ehrlich was ordered to pay Sea Cliff $900,000 in legal fees, later suing the lawyer who represented him for malpractice — a case that was dismissed.
And if that wasn't barnacles enough, the village is set to hold elections Tuesday, with Mayor Elena Villafane running unopposed for the part-time seat — at least until Ehrlich declared himself a write-in candidate after his stunt.
Villafane, who was elected in 2021 after serving as a trustee for several years, had been participating in the meeting virtually and rushed over after being informed of Ehrlich's attempted takeover.
'At one point, he says to me, 'You're not the mayor anymore. I'm the mayor. And if you spend another cent, it'll be considered embezzlement,'' Villafane recounted to The Post Friday.
She said she offered to make a copy of his petition and submit it to the village clerk to be evaluated and processed.
'This chair says 'mayor,' not 'Elena Villafane,'' she explained.
'If people want to dissolve their government, they should be able to.'
Ehrlich, though, did not hand over a petition and seemed to be clutching some sort of 'manifesto' that contained all his ideas for his mayoralty, Villafane noted.
'He would not even let me touch the envelope,' she said, adding that he said, 'I'm not giving it to you, you're not the mayor.'
Villafane tried to calm Ehrlich down, and attempted to remind him that they had previously met.'You don't know me,' Ehrlich said. 'I said, 'You do know me, you've sued me.' He looked at me for the first time and he said, 'Oh, that's right you're antisemitic,'' Villafane recounted.
Most residents fully support Villafane, who was elected in 2021 after serving as a trustee for several years.
'I have lived in Sea Cliff for 53 years,' said Phil Como, a volunteer firefighter in the neighborhood. 'I would put her either No. 1 or No. 2 in the best mayor category.
'We have an excellent board, we provide excellent services, our budget is pretty tight, our taxes are fairly reasonable, we have good code enforcement and zoning — so I can't understand why would a man so successful chooses to hone in on a village that is run pretty superbly,' he continued.
Some villagers, however, see potential in Ehrlich's leadership and may consider writing him in despite the Sea Cliff's success under Villafane.
'I think he'd do a great job because he's proven himself in the field of business with Pirate's Booty, and he ran that like a tight ship,' Tim Ayres, a Sea Cliff resident, told News 12 on Thursday.
Ehrlich did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but he posted a video on the Sea Cliff Residents Facebook page.
'Whatever they're saying about me is wrong,' he proclaimed.
'What I stand for is outdoor seating and a day care center by the old water company that is sponsored by the village so parents can go to work and not worry about their children,' he continued.
'I have so many great ideas — I love Sea Cliff from the bottom of my heart, and I don't want this to go the wrong way,' Ehrlich said, insisting he has a big heart and is generous and urged residents to come meet him and see for themselves.
'I love Sea Cliff more than anybody. I've lived my life here.'
Ehrlich claims that he was empowered by the Citizen Empowerment Act, a little-known state law, to form what he called the new 'Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff Residents,' that he was now in charge of.
'Upon arrival, Ehrlich presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor,'
after the confrontation.
'When informed that this claim was invalid and unsupported by law, he was asked to leave Village Hall at which point, Mr. Ehrlich and his associates became increasingly confrontational.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Google's AI pointed him to a customer service number. It was a scam.
Alex Rivlin was tackling a last-minute task for his European vacation. That's how he got snagged in an artificial intelligence-enabled scam. Rivlin, who runs a real estate company in Las Vegas, needed to book a shuttle to catch a cruise ship. From his kitchen table, he searched Google for the cruise company's customer service number, chatted with a knowledgeable representative and provided his credit card details. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Rivlin said that the number he called was highlighted in Google's 'AI Overviews' - AI-generated responses to some web searches. The next day, Rivlin saw fishy credit card charges and realized that he'd been fooled by an impostor for Royal Caribbean customer service. He'd encountered an apparent AI twist on a classic scam targeting travelers and others searching Google for customer help lines of airlines and other businesses. I found the same number he called appearing to impersonate other cruise company hotlines and popping up in Google and ChatGPT. Welcome to the AI scam era. Experts warn that old scammer and spammer tricks that have swamped the web, social media, email and texts are now also manipulating AI information - and Rivlin is among an early wave of victims. 'I'm pretty technologically advanced, and I fell for this,' said the founder of the Rivlin Group at lpt Realty. I'll walk you through how to guard against experiences like Rivlin's, and what companies such as Google should do to stop crooks from warping AI information. - - - How scammers fooled Rivlin and Google Rivlin told me that the bogus customer service number and the impostor representative were believable. The rep knew the cost and pickup locations for Royal Caribbean shuttles in Venice. He had persuasive explanations when Rivlin questioned him about paying certain fees and gratuities. The rep offered to waive the shuttle fees and Rivlin agreed to pay $768. Rivlin said that he was suspicious of oddities, including an unfamiliar company name that came through on the credit card charge. When two bogus card charges landed the next day, Rivlin knew he'd been tricked. He canceled his credit card and the charges were reversed. Rivlin mostly blames the crooks and himself for falling for the scam. But I've seen so many versions of similar trickery targeting Google users that I largely blame the company for not doing enough to safeguard its essential gateway to information. So did two experts in Google's inner workings. Here's how a scam like this typically works: Bad guys write on online review sites, message boards and other websites claiming that a number they control belongs to a company's customer service center. When you search Google, its technology looks for clues to relevant and credible information, including online advice. If scammer-controlled numbers are repeated as truth often enough online, Google may suggest them to people searching for a business. Google is a patsy for scammers - and we're the ultimate victims. Google's AI Overviews and OpenAI's ChatGPT may use similar clues as Google's search engine to spit out information gleaned from the web. That makes them new AI patsies for the old impostor number scams. 'Manipulating these new answer engines using techniques from 30 years ago is like shooting sitting ducks,' said Mike Blumenthal, analyst at Near Media, a consumer search behavior research company. (Blumenthal told me about Rivlin's Facebook video relaying his experience.) Blumenthal and I found Google and ChatGPT identifying the same number that fooled Rivlin as a customer service number for other cruise lines, including Disney and Carnival's Princess line. In a statement, a Google spokesman said that AI Overviews and web search results are effective at directing people to official customer service information for common types of searches. The spokesman said that the company has 'taken action' on several impostor number examples I identified and that Google continues to 'work on broader improvements to address rarer queries like these.' Royal Caribbean's customer service number is 1-866-562-7625, which the company says it shows on its websites, apps and invoices. Disney and Princess didn't respond to my questions. OpenAI said that many of the webpages that ChatGPT referenced with the bogus cruise number appear to have been removed, and that it can take time for its information to update 'after abusive content is removed at the source.' (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.) - - - What you and companies can do to ward off this scam - Be suspicious of phone numbers in Google results or in chatbots. Rivlin said that he looked for Royal Caribbean's customer service contact number in its app. No luck. Google or chatbots are natural next spots to look for business numbers, but it's worth being extremely careful of numbers they show. Eyeball associated links in Google or ChatGPT before you call. Read more advice on fake customer service scams. - Why is Google making it easier for scammers? The company knows the long history of people being fooled by bogus customer service numbers they find in search results. You'd be safer if Google didn't show AI Overviews - which seem like authoritative 'answers' - for business number searches, said Lily Ray, vice president of search engine optimization strategy and research at the marketing firm Amsive. 'By allowing AI Overviews to appear for business phone number queries, they're opening up a new opportunity for scammers - and one that scammers are clearly already using to their advantage,' Ray said by email. Ray and Blumenthal say that Google has databases of vetted information, including for businesses, and that the company should ensure search and AI results only grab information from there. Back home this week after a great trip, Rivlin said that he's watching for more bogus charges or attempted identity theft. And Rivlin wants to spread the word that even being well informed about scams and a believer in AI didn't make him immune to AI-enabled trickery. 'I can't believe that I fell for it,' he said. 'Be careful.' Related Content Ukraine scrambles to roll back Russian eastern advance as summit takes place Her dogs kept dying, and she got cancer. Then they tested her water. D.C.'s homeless begin to see the effects of Trump's crackdown Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
American Carnival cruise passengers drown at new Bahamas resort
Police are investigating the deaths of two American tourists who died in separate incidents at a new resort in the Bahamas on Friday. Investigators are describing both events as drowning incidents. NBC News' Jesse Kirsch has the latest.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Are we getting a $5000 DOGE dividend or $600 rebate? Fourth stimulus check eligibility
If you're wondering about a fourth stimulus check in 2025 from President Donald Trump or the IRS, here's what to know about eligibility and the reality of it happening. On July 25, Trump floated the idea of a tariff rebate check for American taxpayers in response to questions about all the new tariff revenue being generated, "We have so much money coming in, we're thinking about a little rebate. But the big thing we want to do is pay down debt. But we're thinking about a rebate." A few days after the president's tariff rebate comments, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley announced the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025 aimed at sending checks to Americans. Note that a few months back, in February, Trump also said he would consider a plan to pay out a portion of the savings identified by the Department of Government Efficiency in the form of a $5000 dividend check as payback to taxpayers. The DOGE dividend proposal, authored by Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback, was meant to give back or refund taxpayers a savings from Elon Musk's DOGE related cuts and reductions in government spending. Here's what to know about Trump's two proposals this year, what the amounts would be, qualifications and status. Are we getting a fourth stimulus check in 2025? While speculation about a of $2,000 has surfaced on social media and unverified websites, there has been no official confirmation of any additional economic relief package in 2025 from Congress or the IRS to support this claim. Any such news should be taken with caution as it could be misinformation or attempted fraud. Either of Trump's ideas for a tariff rebate or DOGE dividend this year would be similar to a fourth stimulus check, if approved. Albeit, there are differences between a stimulus check versus a dividend, refund or rebate. By definition, a dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders and refund is a payment made back to a user that previously paid for something. While a rebate is a partial refund of the purchase price that a consumer paid, often upon meeting certain conditions — more like a discount that is refunded after the purchase versus a discount that is applied at the point of sale. A stimulus check on the other hand, is a direct payment to encourage spending and stimulate the economy by putting money directly into the consumers' hand. Also similar to the stimulus checks sent during the pandemic, these proposals would require congressional approval. What is the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025? Hawley's bill, called the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025, would provide a minimum of $600 per adult and dependent child, or $2,400 for a family of four, according to news officials. The benefit would be reduced by 5% for joint filers with an adusted gross income above $150,000 or single filers earning more than $75,000 individually. According to an analysis from the Budget Lab at Yale released July 28, Trump's tariffs could cost U.S. households an average of $2,400 in 2025 through higher prices passed on from companies paying higher tariff taxes. The Treasury Department said on July 25 that the U.S. government posted a $27 billion surplus in June, following a $316 billion deficit in May. Customs duties totaled approximately $27 billion for the month, up from $23 billion in May and 301% higher than in June 2024. On an annual basis, tariff collections have totaled $113 billion, or 86% more than a year ago. The bill would allow for a larger rebate if the tariff revenue exceeds projections. What is the status of the DOGE dividend check proposal? Fishback announced that he was stepping away from the DOGE dividend check movement after Musk lashed out at the president in June, although he also said he would continue working with the administration "to return savings to taxpayers." The latest update on DOGE dividend came from Fishbacks tweet on June 6, "I believed in Elon Musk's vision to shrink government and make it work better for Americans. I'm proud of the DOGE Dividend proposal I developed and will keep working with the administration to return savings to taxpayers." He added, "The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the President, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling. That's disappointing, but okay." According to Fishback's proposal, the DOGE dividend check was described as tax refund check to be sent to every taxpaying household, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE. The potential refund would be sent only to households that are net-income taxpayers — people who pay more in taxes than they get back — with lower-income Americans not qualifying for the return, according to news reports. The Pew Research Center cites most Americans who have an adjusted gross income of under $40,000 pay effectively no federal income tax. According to the DOGE website, it cites an estimated $205 billion — approximately $1,273 per individual federal taxpayer — in savings and proof in their "Wall of Receipts." Albeit, only half the amount is itemized thus far, raising doubts about accuracy. Amy Gleason is the acting administrator and head of DOGE. Musk's departure from the federal government will likely do little to change DOGE's work carrying out Trump's vision of downsizing the federal government or eliminating the 'fraud and waste.' Maria Francis is a Pennsylvania-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: How to check your stimulus check status? Trump $600 - $2400 rebate Solve the daily Crossword
