Fake CIA Spy Almost Scammed His Way Into Immunity
A sentencing memo filed in federal court by the Department of Justice reveals for the first time the full extent of fake spy Garrison Courtney’s stunning ruse: In addition to the $4.4 million he personally extracted from his victims over the course of more than four years, he was in line for nearly $4 billion in Army, Navy, and Air Force contracts had the FBI not caught him.
Even more astonishing, before his double-fake cover was blown, Courtney came “dangerously close” to getting a legal sign-off that could have made it impossible for prosecutors to bring him to justice, authorities said in the new filing.
Courtney, who served as a high-level spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Administration before embarking on his criminal career, pleaded guilty this summer to one count of wire fraud. As The Daily Beast reported, his con was so audacious and complicated—and hoodwinked so many current and former government officials—that seasoned investigators were left slack-jawed.
And in a handwritten jailhouse letter, Courtney claimed that his scheme got so big, he didn’t know how to stop it without exposing himself as a “fraud and failure.”
According to court papers, after he left his DEA job, Courtney crafted a new, entirely fictional persona as a deep-cover CIA operative on a top-secret mission crucial to national security. He approached defense contractors and convinced them to put him on their payrolls so he would look like an ordinary citizen as he went about his supposedly covert activities. Courtney promised the companies lucrative government contracts in return—and in some cases, delivered.
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