The U.S. government will pay $4.6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Steven Hatfill, a former U.S. Army biodefense researcher who was intensively investigated as a "person of interest" in the deadly anthrax letters of 2001, the Justice Department announced Friday.
The settlement, consisting of $2.825 million in cash and an annuity worth $1.8 million that will pay Hatfill $150,000 a year for 20 years, brings to an end a five-year legal battle.
Hatfill's lawsuit, filed in 2003, accused FBI agents and Justice Department officials involved in the criminal investigation of the anthrax mailings of leaking information about him to the news media in violation of the Privacy Act
"The good news is that we still live in a country where a guy who's been horribly abused can go to a judge and say, 'I need your help,' and maybe it takes a while, but he gets justice," Grannis said.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS, BECAUSE THAT POMPOUS BIODEFENSE RESEARCHER NOW GETS TO RETIRE, HIS REPUTATION GOT SLAPPED. IF ANYTHING HE SHOULD BE SUING THE PEOPLE WHO WENT AGAINST THE PRIVACY ACT, RATHER THAN RETIRING OFF OF HIS FELLOW CIVILIANS!
The settlement, consisting of $2.825 million in cash and an annuity worth $1.8 million that will pay Hatfill $150,000 a year for 20 years, brings to an end a five-year legal battle.
Hatfill's lawsuit, filed in 2003, accused FBI agents and Justice Department officials involved in the criminal investigation of the anthrax mailings of leaking information about him to the news media in violation of the Privacy Act
"The good news is that we still live in a country where a guy who's been horribly abused can go to a judge and say, 'I need your help,' and maybe it takes a while, but he gets justice," Grannis said.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS, BECAUSE THAT POMPOUS BIODEFENSE RESEARCHER NOW GETS TO RETIRE, HIS REPUTATION GOT SLAPPED. IF ANYTHING HE SHOULD BE SUING THE PEOPLE WHO WENT AGAINST THE PRIVACY ACT, RATHER THAN RETIRING OFF OF HIS FELLOW CIVILIANS!