A New Orleans man has been indicted on charges related to robocalls sent to New Hampshire voters pretending to be President Biden ahead of the January primary vote and will also be subject to $6 million fine by the Federal Communications Commission.

“New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing,” said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. “I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise.”

Steve Kramer speaks during an interview on Feb. 26 in Miami. (AP Photo)

Steven Kramer, 54, of New Orleans, Louisiana, faces 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonation of a candidate. While “thousands” of Granite State residents reportedly received the calls, the charges are based on complaints from 13 residents in four counties: Rockingham, Belknap, Grafton and Merrimack.

The calls, sent two days before the Jan. 23 statewide primary, allegedly used an artificial intelligence-generated “deepfake” of Biden’s voice deterring people from voting.

“Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again,” the voice mimicking Biden said. “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

Kramer told the Associated Press in an interview on Feb. 26 that he paid a New Orleans street magician $150 to create the message in an attempt to show the negative effects AI can have.

“Maybe I’m a villain today, but I think in the end we get a better country and better democracy because of what I’ve done, deliberately,” Kramer said.

The call “spoofed” the phone number of the treasurer of a political action committee that had supported Biden’s write-in campaign in the state, according to the AG’s office. The message said to call that number to be removed from future calls.

The state launched an investigation on Jan. 22 and on Thursday announced the indictments. On the same day, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a $6 million fine against Kramer “for apparently illegal robocalls made using deepfake, AI-generated voice cloning technology and caller ID spoofing to spread election misinformation.”

The New Hampshire investigation tracked the calls back to the Texas-based Life Corporation and an individual named Walter Monk. Those calls were then distributed through the Michigan-based Lingto Telecom, which maintains an office in Texas.

The FCC simultaneously proposed a $2 million fine against Lingo Telecom for its alleged role in the spoof.

“Lingo Telecom failed to follow ‘Know Your Customer’ principles by applying the highest level attestation — signifying trust in the caller ID information — to apparently illegally spoofed calls without making any effort to verify the accuracy of the information,” the FCC wrote in its announcement.

The Herald has requested comment from the Southfield, Michigan-based company, which merged with BullsEye Telecom in August 2022, for comment.

This is a developing story.