Socialite in Petraeus scandal fights back
TAMPA—A Tampa socialite embroiled in the scandal that cost Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director David Petraeus his job fought back on Tuesday after more than two weeks of silence as her attorneys released e-mails, telephone recordings and other material that they say show she never tried to exploit her friendship with Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, through her attorneys, went on the attack against a New York businessman who accused her of incompetence in her work trying to set up a deal he was negotiating with South Korean companies; an attorney who accused her of name-dropping and of being a social climber; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who first leaked her name in connection with the Petraeus scandal.
Kelley, 37, became the focus of national media attention earlier this month after it was revealed that she was the recipient of anonymous e-mails from Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ biographer and mistress.
Petraeus, the former four-star general and top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned as CIA director on Nov. 9 after the FBI uncovered evidence that he was having an extramarital affair with Broadwell.
Broadwell allegedly told Kelley she should stay away from the former general and Gen. John Allen, who had replaced Petraeus as the commander of US forces in Afghanistan. Petraeus and Allen had become friends with Kelley and her husband, Scott Kelley, a noted fcancer surgeon, when the generals served at the US Central Command, which is headquartered at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base. Kelley became an unofficial social ambassador for the base, hosting numerous parties for the officers.
The scandal this week cost Kelley her appointment as an honorary consul for the South Korean government, which she had gotten because of her friendship with Petraeus. The Koreans said she had misused the title in her personal business dealings.
Kelley’s lawyers sent a ceaseand-desist letter to New York businessman Adam Victor, a complaint to the Florida bar against Tampa attorney Barry Cohen, and a letter to the US Attorney’s Office demanding that it investigate to find out who in the FBI leaked her name to the news media. Representatives of attorney Abbe Lowell e-mailed copies of the letters to the Associated Press.
In one of the letters, Lowell asks W. Stephen Muldrow, the assistant US Attorney in Tampa, why Jill and Scott Kelley’s names were released in the course of the FBI’s investigation of Petraeus and Broadwell. Lowell said federal privacy laws could be applicable to the couple’s information.
“As you know, there are several rules and laws that seek to protect United States citizens against such leaks,” Lowell wrote.
He also wanted to know whether the US Attorney’s Office was investigating the source of the leaks.
“You no doubt have seen the tremendous attention that the Kelleys have received in the media,” wrote Lowell. “All they did to receive this attention was to let law enforcement know that they had been the subjects of inappropriate and potentially threatening behavior by someone else.”
Another letter spoke of a business deal that Kelley tried to broker with South Korean companies.