Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles has marketed himself as a successful entrepreneur and real estate investor, a tax policy expert, and the head of an international nonprofit rescuing sex trafficking victims. But according to recent reports, he has exaggerated many parts of his resume, making him the latest Republican to be accused of lying about his past in wake of revelations about New York GOP Congressman George Santos.
Nashville's NewsChannel5 reported weeks ago that Ogles had studied languages in college, but not economics or international policy, as he had claimed. His alleged history of rescuing sex trafficking victims was also greatly exaggerated.
Now, fact checkers at The Washington Post have found more embellishments from Ogles, this time in regards to his business career.
In 2009, he submitted a resume that claimed he ran a consulting firm from 2003 to 2010 -- a claim that could not be corroborated by The Post. The resume states that at E. Net Media he represented “a variety of clients ranging from small start ups to Fortune 500 companies.” But as The Post points out, no corporate record exists for E. Net in Tennessee state records. "Tennessee corporate records show two companies with similar names wereformed by other people before 2003, but neither was associated with Ogles," The Post's report stated.
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Ogles claimed that while he was with E. Net Media, he developed "recruiting and training program to reduce attrition for Merrill Lynch, saving up to $15 million annually" and evaluated "management structure of Merrill Lynch and recommended reducing regional districts from 19 to 12, with projected savings of up to $30 million annually" -- all claims that could not be verified by The Post.
His 2009 resume also claims he “secured [a] $10 million tax incentive, for film industry positioned VR Limited, to negotiate $35 to $50 million development package in Tennessee.” But again, The Post could find no such deal. The resume went on to claim that he was vice president of another Nashville company, called Franklin Investment & Holding, from June 1995 to January 2002. "But Tennessee corporate records show the firm, formed with Ogles’s brother Justin and a third partner, was in existence only for a fraction of that time. It was created in August 2001 and then dissolved a year later," The Post's report stated.
Another claim on the resume says that he served on the boards of directors of the YMCA of Franklin from 2005 to 2006, Nurses for Newborns in Tennessee from 2002 to 2007, the City of Franklin from 2004 to 2008, and an entity called “DDCA” in Franklin from 2006 to the present. The claims have earned Ogles "four Pinocchios" from The Post's Fact Checker.
Read the full report over at The Washington Post.