Thomson Reuters
- Anthony Weiner is considering memorabilia from the scandals that led to his political downfall.
- The items could include his 2011 sext posted to Twitter and the 2016 search warrant for his laptop.
- "Cashing in would be nice," Weiner told The New York Times of the idea.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Eight years after his New York City mayoral campaign went off the rails, Anthony Weiner told The New York Times he's "seriously" considering selling some mementos and memorabilia from the notorious sexting scandals that caused his political downfall as non-fungible tokens.
"If you do believe in this butterfly effect, I've got the butterfly's wings and its antennas," Weiner told The Times' Ben Smith. He could make the infamous not-safe-for-work 2011 tweet that was intended to be a sent to a woman via Twitter direct-message into an NFT, he said.
A non-fungible token is a unique, non-transferable piece of digital art or content stored on the blockchain and bought and sold with cryptocurrency (most NFTs are hosted by Ethereum). NFTs have caught on in popularity as a new and novel avenue for artists and creators to make money, and for collectors to attain exclusive items.
Along with the 2011 photo, Weiner floated making the 2016 search warrant for his laptop (which Hillary Clinton blames in part for the demise of her presidential campaign), an old campaign check from former President Donald Trump, and a scandal-era email from comedian Jon Stewart into NFTs too.
Two years since he was released from prison, the former Democratic congressman and mayoral candidate told The Times that his financial prospects are limited. Other options, he said, include writing a book on sex addiction, for which Weiner is currently completing a 12-step program.
"It's very narrow - the places that I can work without having The New York Post just make everyone's life miserable," Weiner said.
"Cashing in would be nice," Weiner told The Times of the NFT idea, saying that he could imagine starting a platform "to sell my own stuff but also to create a new category that lets people buy and sell political collectibles as a form of political fund-raising and contributing."
Weiner's downfall began in 2011, when he resigned from Congress after accidentally posting the sexually suggestive photo to his Twitter feed. He was married at the time to Huma Abedin, a top aide and confidante to Clinton. The two separated in 2016 and are currently in the process of formally divorcing.
He waged a political comeback in 2013 with a run for New York City mayor, but was caught again sexting another woman, Sydney Leathers, an episode caught on camera in the documentary film "Weiner."
Weiner was also investigated for sending explicit material to a minor in 2016, prompting the FBI to seize his laptop.
The bureau discovered emails related to the Clinton campaign on the laptop, leading to then-FBI Director James Comey's controversial decision to reopen its investigation into Clinton's usage of private email accounts and servers while she was secretary of state just 11 days before the 2016 presidential election.
Weiner pleaded guilty to a count of transferring obscene material to a minor in 2017 after exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl. Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in a Massachusetts federal prison in 2017, and was released in early 2019. He spent three months at a halfway house in the Bronx and is a registered sex offender.