Ex-TV pundit who claimed CIA past pleads guilty to fraud

Washington (AFP) – A former TV news analyst who falsely claimed to have been a “deep cover” agent for the CIA pleaded guilty Friday to a series of fraud charges, officials said.

Wayne Simmons, 62, had been a Fox News commentator on the basis of his claim that he spent 27 years working for the Central Intelligence Agency.

As part of a plea agreement filed in federal court in Virginia, Simmons admitted he defrauded the government to gain access to a US Army training program in 2008 and to be deployed to Afghanistan as a senior intelligence advisor, the Justice Department said in a statement.

He admitted that he was never employed by or worked with the CIA, or given a security clearance by that agency. 

“Mr. Simmons lied about his criminal history and CIA employment in order to fraudulently obtain government contracts, and separately, defrauded a victim through a phony real estate investment deal,” said Paul Abbate, assistant director of the FBI’s Washington field office.

“With these criminal actions, Mr. Simmons abused the trust of others, both in and outside of government, for his own personal financial gain.”

Simmons, indicted on criminal charges last October, also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of firearms, officials said.

He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the fraud against the government count, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on wire fraud charges.

According to the indictment, Simmons falsely claimed to have worked as an “outside paramilitary special operations officer” for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1973 to 2000, and used that false claim to attempt to obtain government security clearances.

He ended up working for three government contractors — not identified in the indictment — and was paid on the basis of “materially false and fraudulent pretenses,” the indictment said.

Simmons also co-authored a spy novel that appeared to have been loosely based on his purported exploits, which is sold on Amazon.com.

His biography goes on to say he was “one of the first outside intelligence officers” to visit the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and “was given the distinguished honor to serve as a consultant to the Bush White House to assist in the construction of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.”