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Fox News CIA ‘Expert’ Sentenced To Prison For Fraudulent Credentials

By Nick Younker
Published on: 09:38 PST, Jul 17, 2016

Fox News has not done itself any favors in recent years, this time following the exposure of one of its “experts” that claimed to be a C.I.A. intelligence expert, but has been exposed a fraud. Although there have been many guests on Fox News who have claimed to be an expert or a contributor in one form or another, this will mark the first instance that one of Fox’s guests has been sent to prison for the offense.

Wayne Simmons has been appearing on Fox News for well over a decade now, claiming to be an intelligence expert with over 27 years of experience working for the C.I.A. But as it turns out, that could not have been further from the truth, according to a report on New York Daily News.

Although it is unclear at this time if Fox News had done its due diligence before having Wayne Simmons on its cable news network, it does seem strange that they would have let him continue coming on their programs since 2002 with no apparent background checks for the man who fraudulently made several claims over the years to gain access to main stream media and top-level national leaders, domestic and abroad.

Wayne Simmons has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for fraudulently claiming to be an expert on matters of intelligence that allowed him to gain access to Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld before the lead up to the Iraq War, as reported by Rolling Stone. Simmons also used the fake credentials to get contracting work in Afghanistan, get $400,000 knocked off a delinquent tax bill, get an assault charge dismissed, as well as get on cable TV with Fox News.

It did not take long for the Fox News “expert” to plead guilty to all charges that were brought up against him. In his guilty plea, Wayne Simmons admitted to the fraud but still maintained that he had been with the CIA since 1973 and spoke about certain operations that he had been on with the intelligence organization, which includes “Operation Iranian Trust,” ”Operation Alloy” and “Operation New England.” It might be worth noting that he had not been confirmed for any of these missions by the CIA, and his claims were part of his fraud for which he will be serving a nearly three-year prison sentence with other terms attached to it.

The Fox News “expert” claims to have been further involved with the CIA operations, which inspired U.S. Senior Judge T.S. Ellis III to add extra months to his sentence, which also seems to be somewhat of a condition following completion of his sentence.

There was one thing that Judge Ellis did reject from the Fox News “expert,” and that was that he had not accepted his responsibility on this matter, which is what inspired Ellis to add additional months to his sentence.

It seems as though the Fox News “expert” Wayne Simmons has a long and colorful history of life experiences, but none of them had anything to do with matters of intelligence or the military, with the exception of a few weeks that he spent in the Navy before leaving it.

There is one thing that seems to stand out with Simmons career, with the exception of duping Fox News into thinking that he was an expert for over a decade. Simmons did indeed have a stint with the New Orleans Saints before the 1978 season. But it appears as though he did not make the cut and used his talents elsewhere, which meant going on Fox News to serve as a fraudulent “expert.” He was also in the hot tub business, the nightclub business, and ran other scams that he is now paying the price for.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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