On April 14, 2025, NJ.com and reporter Lauren Sforza ran a hit piece designed to discredit my investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James. In doing so, they falsely identified me — Sam E. Antar — as a recently convicted “fraudster,” and falsely suggested I was working in coordination with Donald Trump.
Neither claim was true.
I was the CFO of Crazy Eddie. I pled guilty in the 1990s, cooperated fully with federal prosecutors, and have spent the last 30 years educating law enforcement, regulators, and investors on how financial fraud works from the inside. My background is no secret — it’s published openly on my website, disclosed in media interviews, and a matter of public record.
What’s most disturbing about NJ.com’s reporting is how they attempted to invalidate over three decades of my living as a law-abiding citizen and productive member of society. Rather than examining the thoroughly documented evidence about Letitia James that I uncovered, they tried to discredit the messenger through character assassination. Apparently, rehabilitation and redemption go out the window when they don’t like what you’ve uncovered.
This sends a terrible message to anyone who has made mistakes, served their time, and is trying to turn their life around. If your past can be weaponized against you decades later—despite years of productive contributions to society—what incentive is there for genuine rehabilitation? The media should be championing stories of redemption, not using them as ammunition to discredit inconvenient truths.
But Sforza didn’t just get the story wrong. She and her editors quietly rewrote the headline, revised the narrative, and never took full responsibility for what they did. What started as a reckless smear became an act of journalistic cowardice.
For those unable to access the paywalled article, I’ve made PDFs available of both the original article and the quietly “corrected” version.
Before and After: NJ.com’s Silent Rewrite
This was the original headline — which was shared across social media and aggregated by multiple outlets:
“Trump uses fellow convicted fraudster (remember Crazy Eddie?) in latest attack”
Here’s what it looks like now:
“Trump goes after Letitia James in social media attack”
They didn’t issue a public retraction. They didn’t note the change on the article itself. They just replaced the headline and buried their mistake — without a single note to the thousands of readers they misled.
Side-by-side comparison: NJ.com’s original smear headline vs. their quiet rewrite.
The False Claims in the Original Article
In the original article, Sforza wrote:
“Antar is the nephew of Eddie Antar, who founded the Crazy Eddie electronic stores in the 1970s and 1980s. Eddie Antar defrauded investors out of more than $74 million, and died in 2016.
In 2013, Sam Antar was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for taking $225,000 in a fraudulent investment scheme.
He was also convicted and jailed in 2022 for theft by deception charges that involved nearly $350,000. He admitted in April 2023 that he committed federal securities fraud for bilking investors including friends stemming from that same case and was ordered in May 2023 to pay restitution.”
This is factually false. I, Sam E. Antar, was not sentenced to prison in 2013 or 2022, nor have I ever been convicted of any crime since my original sentencing for the Crazy Eddie case more than three decades ago.
The person they are describing is Sam A. Antar — Eddie Antar’s nephew — who never worked for Crazy Eddie. Sam A. is the son of Allen Antar, Eddie’s brother and a co-conspirator in the Crazy Eddie fraud.
A “Correction” That Admits Nothing
Instead of a proper correction, NJ.com published a brief note quoting from my Twitter/X post:
Correction: In a previous edition of this post, NJ Advance Media mistakenly identified Sam E. Antar. He published a social media post that said, “They confused me (Sam E. Antar, former Crazy Eddie CFO who cooperated with prosecutors decades ago) with Sam A. Antar (Eddie’s nephew who was recently convicted of fraud). Basic research would have revealed we are completely different people.”
That’s not a correction. That’s a deflection. It quotes my post rather than admitting the facts they got wrong. They still haven’t acknowledged that they confused me with Sam A. Antar — a completely different person with recent federal and state convictions — or that they falsely linked me to Donald Trump in the process.
They tried to undermine my credibility by falsely portraying me as a recently convicted fraudster rather than addressing the documented evidence I uncovered about Letitia James. And when called out, they quietly walked it all back — without accountability.
Gary Weiss, Author of Retail Gangster, Called It Out
Gary Weiss, author of the definitive book on the Crazy Eddie case, saw what NJ.com tried to do. He posted the following on social media:
“A correction is not quoting from a blog but admitting that you made a mistake. @njdotcom Your reporter @laurensforza confused Sam E. Antar with Sam A. Antar, which can be confirmed by spending two minutes on Google… It’s a common mistake, but it is also a stupid mistake. Shoddy work, guys. Do better.”
Weiss knows the difference because he’s done the work. Lauren Sforza and NJ.com didn’t.
Why It Still Matters
Let’s be clear: I’ve never met Donald Trump, never spoken with him, and never communicated with him. I acted alone, with no political affiliation or compensation, to expose what I believe is a pattern of serious misconduct by New York’s top law enforcement official.
What NJ.com tried to do — and what they’re still trying to avoid admitting — wasn’t just about me. It was a smear tactic designed to distract from the evidence I uncovered about Letitia James. They tried to discredit me with false claims about recent criminal convictions rather than addressing the substantial, documented evidence I uncovered about Letitia James – evidence showing potential mortgage fraud, undisclosed financial obligations, improper property classifications, and misuse of taxpayer funds. And when called out, they quietly walked it all back without accountability, hoping no one would notice.
This is not conjecture — it’s documented. You can see every source for yourself here:
👉 Read the full report: The Case Against Letitia James
NJ.com Wants You to Forget. I Won’t Let That Happen.
The only reason NJ.com issued any correction at all is because I published my rebuttal. But the damage was already done — and their attempt to erase it without owning it is just more of the same: mislead the public, bury the truth, and protect those in power.
I disclosed my crimes. Letitia James hasn’t even disclosed her mortgages.
I correct my record when I make a mistake. NJ.com rewrites the headline and pretends it never happened.
This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. And if the media refuses to be honest with its readers, I’ll continue doing their job for them.
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Sam E. Antar
WhiteCollarFraud.com