Claiming to have worked for the CIA for nearly three decades won Wayne Shelby Simmons guest commentator slots on Fox News as a terrorism analyst, work as a defense contractor, and a shot at getting security clearance.
But prosecutors say the 62-year-old’s claims that he worked as an “outside paramilitary special operations officer” for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1973 to 2000 were a lie. And they’ve charged him with seven criminal counts as a result.
The FBI announced Thursday that Mr. Simmons had been arrested and indicted on charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud and making false statements to the government.
Mr. Simmons made the false statements about his ties to the CIA to at least three companies, one of which hired him as a “senior intelligence advisor” and he was deployed by the United States “overseas as an advisor to senior U.S. military personnel,” according to the indictment.
Mr. Simmons appeared numerous times on Fox News, and highlighted the clips on his personal website.
A Fox spokesperson said Mr. Simmons was not paid for his appearances on the network and that he was “never a contributor for FOX News, only a guest.”
The indictment also states that in a separate instance in 2011, Mr. Simmons defrauded a woman out of $125,000. He earned her trust through claims he was a former CIA agent and lied about his involvement in the real estate business to convince the woman to wire him the money for an investment, according to the indictment. In fact, no investment was ever made and Mr. Simmons used the funds for personal expenses, according to the indictment.
Mr. Simmons made his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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