Magician Paul Carpenter claims he was paid $150 make to create a deepfake of Biden's voice for robocall telling Democrats not to vote

A New Orleans street magician claims a Democratic consultant paid him $150 create a deepfake of Joe Biden for a robocall telling supporters they didn't need to vote in a primary.

Illusionist Paul Carpenter, who holds records in fork bending and getting out of straight jackets, says he was hired by Dean Phillips operative Steve Kramer in January to imitate Biden's voice.

After receiving payment on Venmo, Carpenter then used AI software to imitate Biden's in a message urging Democrats they didn't need to turn out in the New Hampshire primary.

A New Orleans street magician claims a Democratic consultant paid him $150 create a deepfake of Joe Biden for a robocall telling supporters they didn't need to vote in a primary

He told NBC News it only took him 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, netting him a profit of $149. 

'It's so scary that it's this easy to do,' Carpenter told the outlet. 'People aren't ready for it.'

The Louisiana resident, who doesn't have a fixed address and calls himself a 'digital nomad artist of life', insists he didn't think it was going to be used.

He also didn't believe he was going to end up in the middle of a national political scandal.

Admittedly he had never heard of Phillips and assumed Kramer was working for the Biden campaign, as he was  

'I was in a situation where someone offered me some money to do something, and I did it.

'There was no malicious intent. I didn’t know how it was going to be distributed.'

Illusionist Paul Carpenter, who holds records in fork bending and getting out of straight jackets, says he was hired by Dean Phillips operative Steve Kramer in January to imitate Biden's voice

He told NBC News it only took him 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, netting him a profit of $149

The robocall sparked a federal law enforcement investigation. A Dallas company where the calls allegedly originated from is being investigated. 

The probe is intended to make an example of operations involved in A.I., amid fears schemes could be used in the 2024 election. 

Kramer, the man Carpenter says paid him, was employed by the Democratic presidential longshot Phillips to improve vote outreach.

He has 20 years of experience and worked on Kanye West's 2020 presidential campaign.

The Louisiana resident, who doesn't have a fixed address and calls himself a 'digital nomad artist of life', insists he didn't think it was going to be used

The Biden robocall sparked a federal law enforcement investigation. A Dallas company where the calls allegedly originated from is being investigated

Kramer didn't respond to NBC's comment requests, but did say he will explain his options in an upcoming op-ed.

The Phillips campaign insist they had nothing to do with the robocall and have promised to never work with him again.

'If it is true that Mr. Kramer had any involvement in the creation of deepfake robocalls, he did so of his own volition which had nothing to do with our campaign,' Phillips' press secretary Katie Dolan said.