Ex-FBI agents say bureau used internal probes to punish whistleblowers
The FBI has a longstanding pattern of using its internal review processes to dissuade whistleblowers, a former special agent told Fox Digital.What started in 2021 as a workplace conflict for...
By Fox News · Fox News
The FBI has a longstanding pattern of using its internal review processes to dissuade whistleblowers, a former special agent told Fox Digital. What started in 2021 as a workplace conflict for Special Agent Valentine Fertitta snowballed into a years-long dispute when Fertitta escalated concerns about his treatment, his wife said. Emily Fertitta, who also served in the bureau under the Biden administration, believes that’s emblematic of a larger problem. "A very simple equal employment opportunity case has grown into this huge whistleblower case that has implications for everybody," she said. "National security retaliation is huge for so many whistleblowers." HOUSE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN'S FBI OF RETALIATING AGAINST WHISTLEBLOWER WHO EXPOSED MISCONDUCT After a deployment overseas, Valentine Fertitta returned home with serious injuries that limited his participation at work for the FBI. After a manager took issue with his reduced productivity, the agency blocked him from consideration of a promotion in 2021 — a decision Valentine Fertitta believed violated the FBI’s policies and federal employment law, according to the family's attorney. "Val’s supervisor at the time — this guy is just obsessed with statistics," Matthew Crotty, the Fertitta family's legal counsel said. "He was a troublemaker, really obsessed with advancing in his career." But that was only the beginning of Valentine Fertitta's conflict with the FBI. TERRY ROZIER'S ATTORNEY ACCUSES FBI OF SEEKING 'MISPLACED GLORY' WITH NBA PLAYER'S ARREST Believing that his management had violated government protections against injured employees among other employment safeguards for veterans, Valentine Fertitta filed a whistleblower complaint. Not long after, he received his first-ever negative work performance review, was denied access to trainings, was asked to provide past, present and future medical records and more, according to his wife. Exasperated, Valentine Fertitta appealed his case to the Office of Attorne…