Republican candidate for the Ohio Senate Bernie Moreno has attributed a former intern for a “prank” after a report that his email account was connected to a profile on an adult website.
After a leaked database from the Adult Friend Finder (AFF) website and other available records were examined by The Associated Press, the newswire revealed that someone with access to Moreno’s work email created an account in 2008 on the site seeking casual sexual encounters with men.
Moreno’s campaign gave The Hill a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he made the account as “an aborted prank.” The campaign also supplied a signed email from the former vice president of Bernie Moreno Companies confirming Ricci was a Moreno intern in November 2008 and had access to his emails.
“I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago,” Ricci’s statement said.
The statement indicated he was “one of the many people at the company” who had access to Moreno’s “public facing email account” for his Cleveland Porsche dealership.
The profile was last accessed about six hours after it was created in 2008, the AP reported. Ricci’s statement said he created the account as a prank and “never ended up going through with” it, saying the move was “not intended to be malicious.”
The Hill cannot independently verify Ricci’s statement, as it was provided by the Moreno campaign, although it is signed by Ricci. The AP said Ricci did not respond to voicemails left on multiple phone numbers listed under his name.
According to campaign finance records, Ricci donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign in 2023, the AP reported.
Moreno’s lawyer, Charles Harder, stated to The Hill that the account was created by an intern of Moreno Auto.
“16 years ago an intern at Moreno Auto created an account at AFF as a prank, which he quickly abandoned that same day. We have provided AP a copy of a signed letter from that intern, admitting to this, as well as another signed letter from a former VP of Mr. Moreno’s company, confirming this intern’s employment at the time the account in question was created,” Harder’s statement said.
“The email address in question was not Bernie’s personal email address, but rather an email address that appeared on company websites and literature and was managed by staff. Multiple people had access to it, including this intern,” the statement continued. “Bernie Moreno had nothing to do with the AFF account. According to metadata, the AFF account was never even used–there was no communications or contacts sent to or from any other AFF accounts, and no photos or content were uploaded to it. The AFF account existed for less than a half-day, 16 years ago.”
According to information reviewed by the AP, the profile registered under bernie@clevelandprosche.com was listed under a username “nardo19672,” which said in its profile that it was “looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling.”
The newswire pointed out that Moreno was once a public supporter of LGBTQ rights but has now become a hardline opponent.
Moreno is backed by ex-President Trump in his bid to replace Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
He is a rich business owner who has invested invested at least $3 million of his own money in his campaign. This is the second time he has run for one of Ohio’s Senate seats. He suspended lost his previous campaign in early 2022, before fellow Republican J.D. Vance eventually won that race.
The Ohio Republican primary is on March 19, where Moreno will compete against two other candidates. The state, once considered a swing state, has now shifted right, voting for Trump in 2016 and 2020, putting Brown’s seat in a vulnerable position for Democrats trying to hold on to their Senate majority this fall.
