Accused GoFundMe Scammer on Tape: ‘You Don’t Go to Jail for Lying on TV’

The lawyer for Kate McClure, one of the suspects in an alleged GoFundMe scam, released a secret bombshell tape on Good Morning America Monday morning in an effort to prove his client had no idea the crowdfunding campaign was lie.

The move comes after McClure, along with her now-former boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, and a homeless veteran, Johnny Bobbitt, were charged last week for knowingly conspiring to swindle $400,000 from thousands of donors.

“You started the whole fucking thing. You did everything. I had no part in any of this, and I’m the one taking fucking fall,” McClure is heard purportedly telling D’Amico on a recording her lawyer claims she made after Bobbitt accused her and D’Amico of cutting him out of his share.

“You don't go to jail for lying on TV, you dumb fuck,” D’Amico allegedly responded, referring to the slew of media appearances the three did to further the alleged scam, New Jersey prosecutors said on Thursday.

“But who made me lie on TV?” McClure said.

“Who cares?” D’Amico responded.

James Gerrow, McClure's attorney, said on Monday the tape proved she was not complicit in the alleged scheme and had been duped by her boyfriend and somebody she believed had helped her in a time of need.

“I think that first of all people have to understand that this was an abusive relationship,” Gerrow said to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. “One of the reasons that I provided you the tape was to show you the nature of that. From the start, Kate thought she was helping a veteran who was homeless and that Mr. D’Amico was the one behind this and he was calling all the shots.”

He also downplayed the trove of evidence investigators laid out against the couple last week, including new a BMW, a New Year’s trip to Las Vegas, luxury bags, and “hitting the casinos hard” with the cash they raised from the crowdfunding.

While McClure’s lawyer did admit D’Amico bought bags worth thousands of dollars and McClure bought one bag for about $800, he justified the purchases because they were bought online from a secondhand retailer.

“In terms of the BMW, we’re talking about a 2015 BMW, hardly top of the line—and they paid $17,500 for it,” Gerrow said.

Last Thursday, all three were all charged with conspiracy to commit theft and theft by deception for fabricating the story about Bobbitt lending his last $20 to McClure when she ran out of gas on the highway, prompting her to start a GoFundMe campaign in his honor.

“The entire campaign was predicated on a lie,” Burlington County prosecutor Scott Coffina said at a news conference on Thursday. “Less than an hour after the GoFundMe campaign went live McClure, in a text exchange with a friend, stated that the story about Bobbitt assisting her was fake.”