A Tampa, Fla., socialite and her husband claimed in a lawsuit Monday that the government willfully leaked false and defamatory information about them in the scandal that led to the resignation of Gen. David Petraeus as CIA director.
Jill Kelley and Scott Kelley filed the lawsuit in federal court against the FBI, Pentagon and unidentified officials in the government, claiming the couple's privacy was violated.
It was Jill Kelley who became the focus of national media attention last year after it was revealed she received anonymous emails from Paula Broadwell, Petraeus' biographer and mistress. Broadwell allegedly told Kelley to stay away from Petraeus.
The Petraeus scandal widened when the Pentagon announced it was looking into emails between Kelley and Gen. John Allen, searching for possible evidence of an inappropriate relationship between the two married people. Officials later conceded that only a handful of the emails between Kelley and Allen had been of a flirtatious or questionable nature.
In a statement Monday, Kelley said that she went to authorities after getting the threatening emails from Broadwell.
"But unfortunately, we did not receive the confidentiality and protection," she said. "Instead we received highly hurtful and damaging publicity from willful leaks from high level government officials that were false and defamatory. In addition, we also learned that our personal emails were wrongfully searched, and improperly disclosed."
The lawsuit claims the federal government violated the Privacy Act. It also claims that government officials violated the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches in its review of Kelley's emails. The Kelleys claim they have suffered financial losses because of the government's actions and are seeking monetary damages and an apology, among other things.
By: Brant
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1 comment:
That's one brassy camp-follower.
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