FBI Agent Allegedly Had Improper ‘Romantic Relationship’ With Subordinate, Used Power In Corrupt Ways

A senior FBI agent engaged in an improper romantic relationship with a subordinate and used their position to influence the junior official’s career, according to a report by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The DOJ OIG announced Thursday that a senior FBI official, whose name and sex are not indicated, violated FBI policies by carrying on an improper “romantic relationship” with an unnamed subordinate. The senior official allegedly used their position to interfere with the subordinate’s career.

“In addition, the OIG found that the Senior Official allowed the relationship to negatively affect a professional and appropriate supervisor-subordinate relationship, adversely affect the FBI’s mission, and disrupt workplace morale, by, among other things, causing the subordinate to believe that the subordinate’s career was being impacted due to missed opportunities and sending text messages and emails to the subordinate that disparaged the subordinate’s immediate supervisor and the Senior Official’s other subordinates, all in violation of FBI policy,” the announcement read.

The senior official also interfered with a local police investigation into a traffic incident involving the junior official, the report said, adding that the senior official affected “hiring or organizational” decisions involving the subordinate.

Following the conclusion of the OIG’s investigation, the FBI “immediately removed and reassigned the Senior Official to a nonsupervisory role pending disciplinary action,” the OIG said.

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for additional comment.

While the OIG report did not indicate any sexual misconduct, intelligence agencies have been the subject of controversy regarding the issue over the past few months.

A DOJ OIG investigation in December 2021 revealed several FBI agents engaged in sexual acts with foreign prostitutes, while a December Buzzfeed News report, citing public records, found that several CIA agents had committed sex crimes against minors.