NYC Council Candidate Charged with Forgery for Using AI to Fabricate Endorsements and News Articles

Jonathan Rinaldi, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for a Queens City Council seat in 2025, was arrested and charged with third-degree forgery and possession of forged instruments after prosecutors alleged he used AI to manufacture a string of fake political endorsements and news stories on Facebook and Instagram. The fabrications included a bogus Queens Jewish Alliance endorsement complete with the real organization's logo, a doctored New York Post article falsely claiming his Democratic opponent had endorsed him, and AI-generated videos depicting a police precinct and an elementary school — both barred from political endorsements — backing his campaign. The AI prompt he allegedly submitted to swap a politician's face onto a handshake photo read, in part: "just change the face the head is ok they are both bald just change the face."

Rinaldi framed his arrest as a First Amendment issue, telling the AP, "I got arrested for social media posts." Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was less impressed, noting that the defendant "used AI to replace factual political support" in a "deliberate effort to mislead voters." The forgery laws he's charged under predate AI entirely; New York's newer deepfake disclosure law, passed in 2024, wasn't even needed here. Rinaldi faces up to two years in prison if convicted.