By Staff Reporter |
A court rejected Republican State Rep. Rachel Keshel’s (R-LD17) attempt to stop an anonymous X user behind a months-long online campaign challenging her Legislative District 17 residency.
Keshel and her husband, Seth Keshel, claimed in a complaint that the anonymous online researcher operating under the name “William Coffin” (@CoffinItUp), is a Scottsdale horse trainer named Geoff Coffin. Coffin has denied being behind the account.
On Monday, the Pima County Superior Court dismissed last month’s injunction against harassment targeting the anonymous user. The court determined that the Keshels failed to prove that Coffin and Coffin were one and the same.
The anonymous “Coffin” profile dates back to 2020; the profile picture features William Sloane Coffin Sr., a New York businessman whom the anonymous user identified as an ancestor in an Arizona Agenda interview last month.
The Keshels alleged the connection between the two Coffins by comparing photos and an online map posted by the influencer to the location of Geoff’s home.
The anonymous user behind the X account told the Tucson Agenda that he lives in the Phoenix metro area.
The pseudonymous X account gained a following online through his commentary and analysis of public records on right-wing figures. Much of the anonymous account’s posts in its early years of existence focused on criticizing President Donald Trump.
One of the account’s earliest posts to gain some traction contained a tip claiming top right-wing influencer Dominick McGee — known as “Dom Lucre” online — was under investigation by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance for operating an unlicensed credit repair business called Credit Cadabra.
Over the last year, the account gained traction for his posts on perennial Texas candidate Valentina Gomez.
In recent months, the account has focused on Rep. Keshel’s residency—specifically, alleging that Keshel does not reside within LD17 but instead in the Vail residence in LD19 where her husband owns property.
The individual behind William Coffin also briefly maintained a Substack called “Corruption Duck.”
In the interview last month with the Arizona Agenda, the X user said that prior to focusing his research on Republicans and influential right-wingers, he focused on mortgage fraud.
“[I] started looking at mortgage fraud, and found that I could basically throw a dart in my neighborhood and hit (someone committing) mortgage fraud,” said the user. “It’s basically people buying houses with principal residence mortgages and renting them out the next day as investment properties.”
The Corruption Duck Substack, active from January to December 2023, was created initially with an intent for the author, “Will,” to focus on corruption and fraud in the nonprofit realm.
For the first few months of its existence, however, the Substack focused on investigating and reporting mortgage fraud in the Valley to authorities.
In mid-May 2023, the Substack pivoted to publishing exposes about Republicans and right-wingers, first posting about Dom Lucre and then another Arizona native and holistic medicine influencer Razi Berry (@BerryRazi on X).
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
