- The CEO of Overstock.com says he provided the FBI with exculpatory information on Maria Butina, a Russian national who pleaded guilty to conspiring to work as a Russian agent.
- Butina’s attorney is accusing the FBI and federal prosecutors of improperly withholding the exculpatory information.
- Patrick Byrne, the Overstock executive, told Butina’s attorney and journalist Sara Carter that the FBI encouraged him to collect information on Butina.
Robert Driscoll, the Butina lawyer, sent a letter Thursday to Justice Department officials requesting an investigation into possible misconduct by prosecutors and the FBI in handling information from Patrick Byrne, the CEO of online retailer Overstock.com.
Driscoll said in the letter, first reported by journalist Sara Carter, that Byrne has come forward to acknowledge he provided the FBI with information about Butina as part of a “non-standard arrangement” he had for years with the bureau.
Byrne told Driscoll and Carter that he is disclosing his contacts with the FBI because he is uneasy about the investigation and prosecution of Butina, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
“Those running the operation were not honest and in the end I realized I was being used in some sort of soft coup,” Byrne told Carter, a Fox News contributor.
“It was something I knew I had to do.”
Byrne first contacted the FBI about Butina after meeting her at a libertarian conference in July 2015. He said the FBI encouraged him to remain in contact with Butina, and to strike up a romantic relationship with her in order to gather information about her efforts to infiltrate conservative political groups in the U.S.
“During this time, [Byrne] stated he acted at the direction of the government and federal agents by, at their instruction, kindling a manipulative romantic relationship with...
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Do NOT trust the Feds.
ReplyDeleteGuess I'll be going first to Overstock instead of Amazon in the future.
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