Did Shannon Corless, assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis for the Department of the Treasury, voluntarily surrender to "Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) investigators" for committing a crime? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. Real Raw News, the website from which this claim originated, is known for publishing fabricated content.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on October 20, 2022, titled "Deep Stater VOLUNTARILY SURRENDERS to Military" (archived here). It opened:
Yesterday Real Raw News tweeted that the military arrested an associate of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Alas, we got the premise twisted.
It turns out that Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Shannon Corless voluntarily surrendered to JAG investigators and implicated herself in a myriad financial crime that began shortly after she was selected as Assistant Secretary for OIA in January 2022.
Users on social media saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Deep Stater VOLUNTARILY SURRENDERS to Military | Real Raw News
In an October 21, 2022, email to Lead Stories, a Pentagon duty officer said that this claim is fake:
That story is untrue.
Lead Stories has reached out to the Department of the Treasury and will update this story if a response is received.
Real Raw News has a long history of publishing false claims in mock news stories, many of them about convictions and executions of various public figures at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. For example, the site reported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hanged (she wasn't); former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta was executed (he wasn't); and that "the military" convicted former Attorney General William Barr on charges of treason (it didn't).
The website for Real Raw News includes a disclaimer that warns readers not to take its content too seriously. Specifically, it says:
Information on this website is for informational and educational and entertainment purposes. This website contains humor, parody, and satire. We have included this disclaimer for our protection, on the advice on legal counsel.
(Source: RealRawNews.com screenshot taken Tue Aug 3 16:39:48 UTC 2021)
Lead Stories has covered claims published by Real Raw News in the past. Previous Lead Stories debunks of Real Raw News items are collected here.
