US to settle former Army scientist's anthrax suit

[itsrobert]

Source: AP

==WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with former Army scientist Steven Hatfill.

Hatfill was named a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks. He sued the Justice Department, saying it violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.===

More at link

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ggnSVGuQvX23iSN9fCYgtmUMsaBAD91IKIHG0

[HereSince1628]

1. The guys name was Hatfell or Hatfill

Why would he be entitled to money?

[rateyes]

2. I believe he was always supposed to be the scapegoat...

...and, I believe it was known from the beginning who the real culprit is.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Speaking of the potential anthrax killers...whatever happened to Philip Zack?

Zack had the means, motive and opportunity.

:shrug:

PB

[Nihil]

32. Funny how that question is never answered ...

... it just goes echoing into the distance then people return to
the regularly-scheduled trivia ...

:shrug:

[defendandprotect]

4. The anthrax strain traces back to one of our military labs. . ..

more proof that most of 9/11 and the coverup was an inside job ---

nothing to do with Hatfill, of course, however.


PS: And remember that Cipro the anti-Anthrax pill was given to Bush and people in the WH
six weeks before or was it 3 weeks before the attack?

What could be more obvious --- ????

[Ian David]

5. The spirit of Richard Jewell is probably smiling down on him right now.

Richard Jewell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell

[Supersedeas]

6. that's who immediately comes to mind

[Poll_Blind]

7. It's good you brought that up- but did they do the 'Person of interest" thing that they...

...did with Hatfill to Jewell? I thought the "person of interest" was a new twist, a Bush special. It is interesting because what Bush's DOJ did on purpose, Janet Reno's FBI did unintentionally (though it's presumed the leaker benefitted in some way).

  I think Hatfill might be able to sue some of the many organizations which "ran" with the DOJ's "person of interest" designation and libelously extrapolated on it.

  Back to Jewell though- I remember watching the news at the time and the late night comedy shows and everything else. They excoriated him publicly. It's great that he won but his death from diabetes a few years later made me sad that the last few years of his life had the halo of all that bullshit around them.

PB

[Blue_Tires]

34. i was thinking about Wen Ho Lee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wen_Ho_Lee

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

8. $5.8 million for scientist in anthrax lawsuit

Source: Associated Press

A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department.
Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

Settlement documents were filed in federal court Friday. Both sides have agreed to the deal, according to the documents, and as soon as they are signed, the case will be dismissed.

The deal requires the Justice Department to pay $2.825 million dollars up front and buy Hatfill a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years.

Read more: http://www.montereyherald.com/national/ci_9720307?nclick_check=1

[Demeter]

9. Will The IRS Tax Him on That?

Just to add insult to injury?

Good for him! It was shameful.

[dsc]

12. No

settlements like that are tax free regardless of whom they come from.

[pitohui]

15. settlements are NOT tax free

the part of it that is for the lost income is taxable, just as if he had actually worked to earn the money in the job he lost because of all the hoo-hah

i know someone who got such a settlement and because it was for lost income, between the attorney (40%) and the taxes, he ended up with very little net

[bean fidhleir]

31. But there are ways to characterize the settlement that make it tax-free

And his attorney would know them.

(I speak from personal experience)

[jpak]

10. Now go catch the REAL fucking *post-911* terrorist(s) dumbasses

ugh

[pitohui]

14. oh he is the real terrorist

they really fucked the pooch on this one, but look into this guy's background sometime

he not only got away with it, he got paid millions to get away with it

sickening really

if you assume he was working on orders from higher up, then this was probably always going to be the way they funneled the pay off to him in the end

[Poll_Blind]

16. As A Point Of Curiosity, Sir, What Causes You To Believe He Is?

?

PB

[girl gone mad]

17. My thoughts, too. n/t

[Dogtown]

11. I wonder

how much the Feebs pay out in settlements annually?

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. I get a strange error with the exact URL in your link

it appears to be the '?nclick_check=1' at the end - it's trying to do some kind of sign-in that ends up confused with the DU URL. Without that it seems to work OK:

http://www.montereyherald.com/politics/ci_9720307

[Hissyspit]

19. Here's another:

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20080627/486465c0_3ca6_15526200806271555147735

[bonito]

18. K&R n/t

[Tiberius]

20. Huge US Payout Over Anthrax Case

Source: BBC

The US justice department has agreed a multimillion-dollar settlement with a man it said was a "person of interest" in the US anthrax attacks in 2001.

Dr Steven Hatfill, a former US army scientist, sued the department, saying it violated his privacy rights by speaking to reporters about the case.

According to the settlement documents filed on Friday, the justice department will pay Dr Hatfill $2.8m (£1.4m) upfront.

It will also buy Dr Hatfill a $3m (£1.5m) annuity that will pay him $150,000 (£75,000) each year for 20 years.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7478722.stm

---

Silence from the US MSM on this one, I'm sure

[robinlynne]

21. Damn, call me a person of interest. I'm interesting!

[anitar1]

22. Ohm my goodness gracious!!

Why was he awarded the money then ? Was he supposed to be the patsy??

[truthisfreedom]

23. Our tax dollars at work. Meanwhile, the bushco operative who was the actual culprit walks free.

It's like a bad episode of the X-files.

[woodsprite]

24. You know. I saw this tonight on the news, and my first thought was

"Wow! What a payoff - and in full visibility and light of day."

[Gman]

25. IIRC, they ruined this guy

he wasn't able to find work because of the suspicions. And, IIRC, he was getting close to finding out the real source of the Anthrax. I always figured they just wanted to shut this guy down because he was getting too close.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. That was always my impression of the situation also.

In the end the entity behind the attacks was never discovered and the entire thing was buried and forgotten.

[still_one]

28. You are right, they ruined his entire reputation and career, it is the least they can do

This is similar to what happen to Richard Jewell when he was falsely accussed of the Olympic bombing

[lligrd]

30. I Think We All Agree The Guy Deserves The Money

The question is, why the hell should taxpayers pay it when we and the FBI knew damn well who was really responsible.

[eridani]

27. The anthrax strain was from US labs

Still no effort to find the actual perps of course.

[Twist_U_Up]

29. It was Al CIAda.

da

[JI7]

33. i still think he was the one who did it