Skid Row 'Lord' Ran a Signature Fraud Ring Under His Own LLC

James Brass ran a signature-collection operation under his own company, Pinnacle Brass LLC, and a federal grand jury says he ran it on stolen identities. [S1] He is charged, alongside two people who worked for him, with using the stolen identities of registered California voters to fake ballot petition signatures. [S1][S2]

PROOF

A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against Brass on Wednesday, September 10. [S2] He is charged with conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony, along with a second count of identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony. [S1] Courtney Price, 49, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jateisha Herron, 33, of Boron, California, are charged alongside him as signature circulators who worked for him. [S1] Prosecutors say Brass was also known by the nickname "Lord" and controlled a company named Pinnacle Brass LLC. [S4] That company is registered with the California Secretary of State. [S1]

According to the indictment, Brass managed a team of signature collectors and collected signatures himself while Price and Herron worked under him. [S2] From February 2026 to August 2026, the defendants used a database to identify registered California voters, then handed out those voters' stolen identities on Skid Row and paid people there to copy the personal information onto ballot initiative petitions and sign in the voters' names. [S1] After the petitions were signed, Brass and Herron signed declarations at the bottom, swearing under penalty of perjury that they had personally witnessed the named voters sign and that each signature was "the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be." [S1] Brass and Herron then turned the petitions in to petition coordinators. [S1] Brass knew the false representations about the signatures would result in payments to him from a petition management company. [S1] He was paid approximately $41,600 for the work. [S1] To qualify a measure for the 2026 ballot, California required 546,651 valid signatures for a statute and 874,641 for a constitutional amendment. [S1] Brass was arraigned Thursday in Riverside, pleaded not guilty, and was released on $10,000 bond, with trial set for November 2. [S1] If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison on each count. [S2]

PUBLIC OPINION

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said, "These defendants used stolen identities of registered voters to manufacture signatures on ballot petitions used to shape California law." [S1] He added that the defendants "preyed on the vulnerable homeless population and used them to try to cover their tracks." [S1] FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X, "If you mess with our elections, this FBI will find you." [S1] Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said, "It is imperative that Americans have confidence in our voting system and election infrastructure," and called the scheme an attempt "to undermine an essential pillar of our democracy and cause an undue burden on taxpayers." [S2]

BULLSHIT DEFENSE

Brass has pleaded not guilty. [S1] A deputy federal public defender representing him did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [S4] No other statement from Brass or his lawyer appears in the record.

He ran his fraud through a company with his own name on it, then swore under oath that stolen identities were real people signing their own names. That's not an accident. That's a plan with a signature block.