FCC Chairman Brendan Carr spent nearly a decade of his youth inside a Washington-area Alcoholics Anonymous offshoot that former members describe as "a cult" where teenage girls and young women were "sexually exploited," according to a Guardian investigation.
The group, known as Midtown, drew young people seeking sobriety — sometimes sent there by their own parents — into the orbit of leader Michael Quinones, who died of cancer in 2007. Former members told the Guardian that Quinones, once branded the "Epstein of AA," controlled where members lived, worked and went to school, while pressuring teenage girls and young women into "dating" and having sex with older male members. One former member said, "What happened to her amounted to sex trafficking."
"Carr joined the group in 1996, when he was about 17 years old and a senior in high school, and appears to have remained a member for about nine years, including while attending law school," according to the Guardian’s report, adding, "While it is difficult to pinpoint when exactly Carr left the group, he spoke about his sobriety journey in a recorded Midtown speech in 2005, in which he also referenced that he was in his last semester of law school."
Fourteen former members interviewed by the Guardian were emphatic that Carr "wasn't part of the abuse." One called him "never among the predators," instead describing him as protective of younger girls; another said he snuck her food when he "cared and knew I was hungry." Several characterized Carr himself as a victim of the group's manipulation — "such a fragile guy," one former girlfriend said, "desperate to have a place to belong."
An FCC spokesperson denied any wrongdoing on Carr's behalf: "He did not engage in any of the allegedly illegal conduct or abusive behavior you reference. Any suggestion that he knew of the allegedly illegal or abusive conduct you point to would be false."
The revelation adds a strange new chapter to Carr's tenure atop the FCC, where he's become known as an aggressive enforcer eager to please Trump and has drawn rebukes even from the Wall Street Journal's editorial board over his attacks on the press.
