Four FBI officials had sex with prostitutes
Four FBI officials had sex with prostitutes while posted
overseas, while a fifth also tried to — and all but one “lacked candor” about
it during interviews and lie-detector tests, the Department of Justice said.
An official probe was launched after the FBI raised the
alarm that “multiple then FBI officials solicited, engaged in, and/or procured
commercial sex,” a DOJ report said Tuesday.
Two of the officials were also accused of being involved in
delivering “a package containing approximately 100 white pills” to a “foreign
law enforcement officer,” the report said, without elaboration.
The report did not identify the five officials, but said two
had resigned, two had retired and one was removed during the probe.
A sixth agent accused of breaking policy by failing to
report colleagues’ misconduct still works for the bureau, which vowed to “take
all appropriate disciplinary actions” against the employee.
The report also did not detail when or where the dalliances
occurred. However, the FBI said it involved “employees previously working
overseas in various FBI Legal Attaché Offices” and was referred to the DOJ in
2018.
Tuesday’s report said the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector
General (OIG) had “substantiated” allegations “that four FBI officials
solicited, procured, and accepted commercial sex overseas,” while a fifth
“solicited” sex.
Their actions were all “in violation of DOJ and FBI
policies.”
The investigation “also found that four of those officials
lacked candor about their interactions with prostitutes and other misconduct
during OIG compelled interviews and compelled polygraph examinations,” the
report said, again in violation of policies.
One of them was outright accused of having “made false
statements” when he “denied having engaged in sex acts with a prostitute,” the
report said, noting it was “in violation of federal law.”
All five then failed to report the misconduct as well as
“contact or relationships with foreign nationals,” both also in violation of
FBI policies, the investigation ruled.
One also “lacked candor” when he “denied observing or
placing pills in a package to be delivered to a foreign law enforcement
officer,” while another “failed to report having been provided such a package.”
The report did not elaborate on what the pills were, nor
whom they were given to.
The Inspector General’s Office said it handed its findings
to the FBI for “appropriate action.”
The FBI said it “appreciates the Office of Inspector
General’s thorough investigation into the reported misconduct by several former
employees.”
“We have already completed numerous measures during the
OIG’s investigation to ensure this type of behavior does not happen again,” the
agency said in a statement.
“The majority of our personnel, wherever they are stationed,
represent the FBI with the utmost honor and respect,” the bureau said.
“We will not tolerate these few individuals, who chose to
disregard their oath and the public we serve, tarnishing the good work the rest
of the FBI accomplishes each and every day.”
The bureau declined to say if the probe had been tied in any
way to a similar scandal in 2012, six years before it called on the DOJ to
launch its just-completed investigation.
That had also involved five feds — two Secret Service
supervisors and three elite agents — who were accused of bringing prostitutes
back to their hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of a visit by then-President
Barack Obama.
Comments
Post a Comment