Florida’s George Santos: The Dishonorable Daniel Sohn
By John Sotomayor
[Update: as of April 2nd, 2024, Daniel Sohn has taken down his danielsohn.com page and his usbusinessconsortium.org page. He has begun to modify his social media accounts such as removing photos.]
A young, ambitious charlatan just experienced two of the most remarkable life events.
The problem is they never happened.
On January 10, 2024, Daniel H. Sohn, age 33, the president, and CEO of the Pride Chamber (https://thepridechamber.org/ ), in Orlando, Fla., posted a photo of himself being sworn in as a Governing Board Member of the Selective Service — a position that does not exist — representing the State of California, to the Nation’s Selective Service System by Vice President Kamala Harris on his social media. The caption on the post gave that very description. Then on February 23, 2024, Sohn published a photograph he claimed was taken by a professional photographer of his meeting with President Joe Biden. The photo showing them shaking hands was reported as taken during President Biden’s visit to California on February 20, 2024. Both photos were fabricated by Sohn.
Those misrepresentations by Sohn were far from his first.
Sohn met me, John Sotomayor the publisher of Embrace Magazine (https://www.embracemedia.us/ ), a critically acclaimed startup LGBTQ+ magazine, at the NGLCC (https://nglcc.org/ ) 2023 National Business and Leadership Conference in Denver, CO, August 14, 2023.
Over the next few days, Sohn repeatedly showed interest in being profiled in Embrace Magazine. I informed Sohn the next issue was the leadership Issue to which Sohn increased his frequency of requests and added he wanted to be featured on the cover.
I gave in to a profile feature but not the cover. Later during the fact-checking phase, it was discovered Sohn lied about his work history, the history of his nonprofit, the US Business Consortium (https://www.usbusinessconsortium.org/ ), and more. Corrections were made; however, the feature was published containing errors Sohn deliberately told, both to Michael Kurtz, the freelance writer assigned to the story titled “Double Down with Daniel” (https://issuu.com/sotomayormedia/docs/2310_leadership), then to me, the editor, knowingly and with intent.
He had done so before.
Sohn’s history reveals he lied while campaigning for political office in 2013, at age 22, and was called a liar by Vice Mayor Lawrence Gordon during a town hall meeting in 2018, at age 27, that cost then-city councilman Sohn his reelection.
Past History
Political activist and blogger Chaz Stevens exposed Daniel Sohn’s lies during his first election campaign in 2013, exposing corruption in South Florida. Sohn lied about his non-profit Tree of Life and claimed to be a multi-book author, life coach, public speaker, child prodigy, and hand-picked by the governor, most of which are still listed on his original website, http://dsohnweb.weebly.com/bio.html. Stevens requested an interview with Sohn, who revealed that the Tree of Life, Branch of a Nation Foundation (TLBN) (https://prezi.com/jdpmmyhnloon/tlbn-foundation/) had been administratively dissolved in 2012 for not paying filing fees and was never registered with the IRS.
“Daniel Sohn’s between the line’s insinuation hopes the voters find him fiscally capable and ready, having governed an $8 million budget at 12 years old. Hand-picked by the Governor, who, having some free time on his hands, culled local middle schools, looking for the most capable of solving Tallahassee’s problems. What Sohn fails to mention, and with good reason, is mom wrote this grant.” wrote Stevens.
During August 2013 one of Sohn’s supporters posted on Daniel’s Facebook page that the Mayor of Dania Beach, Walter Duke, had asked Sohn to run for Mayor. To which Mayor Duke’s wife responded, “The mayor did NOT ask him to run, he doesn’t even know him,” wrote Stevens in his blog. Stevens also reported on his blog site that Sohn’s supporters, who had endorsed him, were backpedaling creating distance from him.
Sohn dropped out of the race shortly after, and his supporters, including State Representative Katie Edwards, backed out.
Stevens asked Edwards about her endorsement. She replied, “This issue obviously raises questions about one’s abilities to operate a not-for-profit within the letter of the law…. If my own investigation into this matter proves that the candidate doesn’t possess the character and integrity to serve, then I will have to withdraw my support.”
Journalist Sharon Aron Baron wrote more about Daniel’s lies above in her article, “Candidate’s Chances Slim After Activist Exposes Lies” (April 18, 2013) https://tamaractalk.com/candidates-chances-slim-after-activist-exposes-lie-10930
When contacted about this story, Baron replied, “He was such a huge Charlatan in Broward County 10 years ago that we literally drove him to greener pastures in Palm Beach…. On all his posts tagging elected officials, he would refer to them as his ‘colleagues’ which was such a laugh. The guy is delusional, a liar, a fraud, and yes, like George Santos in the making.”
Sohn continued to pursue elected office, running for various positions, including Haverhill Town Commissioner in 2018, which he won. In the small election where Sohn had allegedly not established residency and only 76 people voted, he won by 18 votes.
Documented Haverhill Town Council meeting minutes show Sohn had alleged ethics challenges with fellow elected council persons.
As city councilman of Haverhill, Vice Mayor Lawrence Gordon challenged Sohn’s trust, stating that he wanted to establish a policy for receiving letters, especially anonymous unsigned letters. Sohn was suspected of being the author of an unsigned letter. The letter was written as a third party claiming the town council was victimizing Sohn.
According to meeting minutes, “[The] biggest problem with Council Member Sohn was that he lies all the time, and he was an incessant liar… As far as Vice Mayor Gordon was concerned, Daniel’s word was nothing.” This is an excerpt from the Haverhill Town Council Meeting minutes dated 02/27/2020, New Business section.
The next municipal election in Haverhill, Palm Beach County was 18 days later on March 17, 2020, and Sohn ran as an incumbent against Ray Caranci. He lost by one vote (153 to 152). Sohn had married his husband on February 12, 2020, who had a residence in Broward County. Sohn left Palm Beach County shortly after his election loss. They ultimately moved to California.
On November 18, 2021 the Haverhill Town council unanimously passed an ordinance to create new residency requirements so that Sohn could not return.
Fake Chamber
On November 27, 2013, Sohn established the South Florida Non-Profit Chamber of Commerce in the home of his mother, Helen Sohn, his residence at the time. He gave himself the title of president/CEO. It was administratively dissolved by sunbiz.org one year and 10 months later on Sept. 25, 2015. It is speculated the corporation had no business members given its location in a private residence. There is no record of nonprofit tax exempt documents being filed with the IRS. Sohn used the fake chamber to build his resume to get hired by the Imperial Valley Chamber of Commerce followed by the Antioch Chamber of Commerce, both in California in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He worked at Imperial Valley Chamber from March to December 2021. He worked for the Antioch Chamber from June 2022 to June 2023. Both hired him as president/CEO. He then used those positions to get hired by the Pride Chamber Inc. in Orlando, Fla. in June 2023, again as president/CEO.
Questionable Non-Profits
Sohn requested coverage of the U.S. Business Consortium in the Leadership Issue of Embrace Magazine (https://issuu.com/sotomayormedia/docs/2310_leadership), which he provided false information during his interview. The issue was published with as many corrections as possible, but some errors were still published.
The article states, “When the Business Consortium was first conceived in the 1990s, it was only a private organization in California. It went through a major restructuring in 2005 to start becoming an entity of ‘business leaders and economic development advocates serving the shared need to address many of the challenges nationwide (Sohn).’ Under Sohn’s leadership, the organization expanded its membership by over one hundred economic developers, chamber of commerce executives, and destination marketing professionals, who are either employed by their respective counties, cities, or states.”
That information, fed to Kurtz for the article, was all false. Kurtz also relied on the US Business Consortium website, https://www.usbusinessconsortium.org/.
According to Sohn’s website usbusinessconsortium.org the USBC was founded in 2005; it has 100+ members and is the fastest growing in the U.S.A.; it has three office locations including a national headquarters in Washington D.C.; there is a national board of advisors; and on December 13, 2022, he was promoted from Economic Development Leader to National President.
Organizations that grow so large they need a national president usually have hundreds of thousands of members and are divided into geographical regions where every state is represented, with a regional director or vice president in charge of each region. This is not true of the USBC.
The reality is Sohn started the USBC on October 5th, 2022, in California. It is allegedly made up of only three people. Sohn as CEO, Ryan Terrell as Secretary, and Kaitik Chan as CFO. There are no members, board of directors, regional directors, or national advisor board. Sohn allegedly acquired a failing non-profit, the East County Business-Education Alliance, that in 2022 only had $824 left in the bank and renamed it the U.S. Business Consortium. Allegedly the only reason for the acquisition was to be able to say the organization was decades old. He neglected to change the non-profit status from public to member and never amended the articles of incorporation or bylaws. The old bylaws prohibit all of the activities Sohn claims the organization does.
There is a great deal of evidence that shows the USBC is a non-functioning entity. There is no non-profit tax-exempt status for the USBC at the IRS Federal level. The California Department of Justice only has non-profit tax-exempt data for the East County Business-Education Alliance and the status is currently “Delinquent” for failure to file financial documents during the period Sohn acquired the entity. Sohn has not filed an IRS 990 tax form for this entity since he has had it, the last one that can be found was signed by the previous CEO and dated 2021. The entity is supposed to have a 20-year history, but the website only lists two events for November 2022, both of which were canceled including the event where Sohn allegedly was named national president, and no events occurred in 2023. Every year a statement of information must be filed with the California Secretary of State, yet the filing date for the USBC is currently listed as “Past Due” since Jan. 1st, 2024. When a foreign corporation does business in another state they usually file a Certificate of Authority in that state and the CTA would list the information of the parent corporation such as tax ID number, address, and date of incorporation. There are no CTA’s filed in Washington D.C. or New York for the USBC, it is unlikely that there are offices in those cities. At the website usbusinessconsortium.org none of the “Join A Plan” buttons work; clicking on a button shows the error message, “You can’t order this plan at the moment.”
The USBC allegedly exists more for Sohn to pad his resume and network than to benefit the public.
Dubious Appointments
According to Sohn’s LinkedIn Page, Facebook Pages, Instagram page, and bio in the Pride Chamber (Orlando), he allegedly claims to be a presidential political appointee directly appointed by Joe Biden. Sohn routinely refers to Biden as “his boss”, similar to his immediate supervisor. This relationship derives from the Selective Service System where Sohn is currently a local board member. He serves no active role; he is merely a volunteer in a contingency plan that may be activated if Congress amends the U.S. Constitution, and the President activates the draft.
Among Sohn’s allegedly false claims are: that he is one of two paid Governing Board Members in California; he represents California to the USA and the President to California; he was sworn in by V.P. Kamala Harris; he greeted Joe Biden during his February 20th, 2024, fundraiser in California; he is politically connected and has direct access to Biden; and his position at the Selective Service System is limited to the Biden-Harris administration.
The hard reality is Sohn was not appointed through the White House Presidential Office as a political appointee but as part of the Military Service Selective Act to be a volunteer local board member. His appointment as a local board member was published in the Holtville Tribune, https://holtvilletribune.com/2021/11/05/i-v-chamber-ceo-tabbed-for-selective-service-board/. He has provided false information to others, including the Pride Chamber, which lists in his bio that he is a Governing Board Member, which is not true (https://thepridechamber.org/staff/). He is a local board member. The job, title, or position of Governing Board Member does not exist within the Selective Service System.
All volunteer local board members are currently appointed by the Director of the Selective Service System and most likely Sohn has never met Pres. Biden or V.P. Harris. Local Board Members can serve 20-year terms and are not limited to a presidential administration. Volunteers are prohibited from accepting compensation. Photos that Sohn has of himself with Biden and Harris have been allegedly proven to be deep fake AI-generated images. As a local board member Sohn does not represent California to the U.S. President nor does he represent the U.S. President to California. Only the California State Director of the Selective Service System has those responsibilities. Sohn’s jurisdiction is limited to Sonoma County and technically moving to Florida should have been a reason to be removed as a local board member.
Sohn has distributed business cards with the Selective Service System logo and his false title of Governing Board Member. The email address to contact him is a private URL: scheduler@danielsohn.com, not the government URL of @sss.gov. He uses a similar address on his website to solicit paid speaking engagements. He claims it took two years for him to get them and were distributed about the same time the fake Kamala Harris photo was uploaded. It is unclear if this is an unauthorized business card.
Fake Photos
Sohn has allegedly resorted to using fake photos to support his fake narratives. It is unclear how many times Sohn has used fake photos, but three photos have been allegedly proven to be used under false claims. The first is a photo Sohn claims is Vice President Kamala Harris swearing him in as a local board member of the Selective Service System on Oct 21, 2021. The second photo was a photo of Air Force One Sohn claimed was parked on the tarmac of Travis Air Force Base on Feb. 20, 2024. The third was a photo Sohn claimed was of himself greeting President Joe Biden, as a representative of the Selective Service System, on Feb. 20, 2024.
The Kamala Harris photo is allegedly made up of three components: an Alex Wong photo taken of Kamala Harris swearing in UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield; a Moya Photography photo of Sohn being sworn in as Haverhill Councilman; and a fake background. The components were cropped, and photo-edited to resemble a new photo.
Fake photo posted by Daniel Sohn on his Facebook page and Instagram on January 10, 2024. Shows him being sworn in by Vice-President Kamala Harris supposedly on October 21, 2021. Selective Service local board members are never sworn in person. Note Vice-President Harris wears a mask during covid but Sohn does not. That is because the photo he used for his image was taken in 2018, pre-covid.
One of the two actual photos Daniel Sohn used to create the fake one. Here, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield is sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris. Note both Greenfield and Harris wear masks as the photo was taken during COVID.
The second of the two actual photos Daniel Sohn used to create the fake one. Here, Sohn is sworn in as city councilman in the town of Haverhill, Fla. Note both men do not wear masks as the photo was taken in 2018, pre-covid.
The photo of Air Force One was taken by Kevin Lamarque on Dec. 6, 2016, at Joint Base Andrews, Washington D.C.. Sohn used this photo to pretend it landed at Travis Air Force Base in California and he was the photographer. This was the lead-in to a false narrative Sohn perpetrated to make his audience believe he met Joe Biden on Feb. 20, 2024.
The Joe Biden photo is allegedly made up of three components: a Mandel Ngan photo taken of Joe Biden meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem, on July 14, 2022; a headshot of Sohn; and a fake background that includes the seal of the U.S. Selective Service System. Sohn used face-swapping technology to place his face over the head and body of the Israeli President. The image of Biden and Herzog was cropped out and placed into the fake background. Photo editing was used to create a black-and-white image to resemble a new photo.
Screenshot of Daniel Sohn’s fake photo of himself meeting President Joe Biden, which Sohn created himself and posted on his social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
Screenshot of the actual photo Sohn used to create his fake one, which is of President Joe Biden meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Side-by-side comparison of Sohn’s fake photo of himself meeting President Joe Biden compared to a mock photo of President Joe Biden meeting Brad Pitt, done to show how the fake process can be done.
As CEO and President of the Pride Chamber of Orlando Sohn has committed a serious breach of trust with Pride Chamber member John Sotomayor. Sohn had communicated on multiple occasions with Sotomayor to get follow-up stories, including the cover, in Embrace Magazine. Sohn had specifically stated he wanted the fake photos described to be featured in the story about himself.
Continuation of Lies
Sohn continues to request coverage with Embrace Magazine. After he presented false information knowingly and intentionally to Kurtz for a profile feature published in Embrace Magazine’s Leadership Issue, published in December 2023 (https://issuu.com/sotomayormedia/docs/2310_leadership), to bring credibility to his nonprofit, the U.S. Business Consortium, he requested a follow-up story in a future issue of Embrace that would include the fabricated photos of his swearing-in with Vice President Harris and the fake photo of his meeting with President Biden. His intention there is speculated to give him credibility as an important person, thus monetizing his efforts for speaking engagements on his new website, www.danielsohn.com.
On March 19, 2024, Sohn as president/CEO of the Pride Chamber was honored by the Orlando Magic on Pride Night, during the Orlando Magic vs. Charlotte Hornets game, part of their diversity honors. Announcements by the Pride Chamber stated he was honored on behalf of his work for the Pride Chamber and the newly established Pride Foundation. On the evening of the celebration, his bio read as the president/CEO of the U.S. Business Consortium and the president/CEO of the South Florida Non-Profit Chamber of Commerce, two entities he created, and no mention of the intended honorees, the Pride Chamber and Pride Foundation.
According to his website, he wants to be called the Honorable Daniel Sohn because of his former elected office as city councilman of the small town of Haverhill, Fla. His insistence to be called “Honorable” on paper and in person is inappropriate as they do not follow protocol. Only high-level federal elected or appointed persons are called Honorable. Judges are called Your Honor on every level. On the municipal level, only the mayor may be called Honorable, not city councilmen or county commissioners. It is considered poor etiquette to refer to one’s self as The Honorable, as does Sohn in his personal website danielsohn.com.
His lies will seemingly never end until he is made to stop. On April 1, 2024, only days before this report was finalized, Sohn posted an image that listed himself as “Hon. Daniel H. Sohn” and under his name listed himself as “Presidential Appointee”, the latter eluding to his false title as Governing Board Member of the Selective Service, when he is a local board member.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgYleIzYow
Ultimately, Sohn’s actions and lies are anything but honorable; they are dishonorable.
The research behind this report is a highly detailed, nearly 12,000-word investigative report with charts and images that can be found on a website created by Stevens, www.danielsohnlies.com.
Learn more.
During this investigation, the following research was developed.