By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Toss in an FBI agent, an informant and allegations of sex and you’ve got scandal.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan announced Tuesday the unsealing of an indictment charging FBI agent Adrian Busby, 37, with making false statements to protect a married confidential source he was allegedly having an affair with.
Busby, who now resides in El Paso, Tex., was charged with trying to protect the woman from identity-theft charges in a Queens State Criminal Court trial and then lying about it to authorities. He surrendered Tuesday in Texas to authorities.
It all began in 2008 when Busby, who was investigating mortgage fraud, started using a female real estate loan officer as a confidential source. He also began having an affair with her.
On Feb. 5, 2008, the source was arrested and subsequently prosecuted by the Queens County District Attorney’s Office for identity theft and related charges.
Authorities charged that Busby “actively assisted with her criminal defense, met with her attorneys on multiple occasions, and during trial “provided her defense attorney with confidential, law enforcement reports…related to her case….in violation of FBI regulations.”
In December 2009, she was convicted.
Beginning in January 2008, authorities said Busby made numerous false statements regarding the things he did to assist her in the trial.
Busby denied wrongdoing to The New York Daily News.
“Was she a suspect in my case? She wasn’t a suspect in my case,” Busby told the paper. “Was she a confidential informant? That’s something that the FBI would have to give out.”
“If [the Justice Department investigators] did not find anything, then apparently my actions were appropriate,” he added.
