A former Navy SEAL who wrote a first-hand account describing the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden has sued his former lawyers for landing him in a predicament that he claims has tarnished his reputation, cost him his security clearance and is now forcing him to forfeit $4.5 million of the book's income to the government for publishing it without clearance, according to a lawsuit released on Wednesday.
After Pentagon initiated an inquiry that evolved into a criminal probe by the Justice Department, author Matt Bissonnette sued attorney Kevin Podlaski and the Carson Boxberger LLC firm in Fort Wayne, Ind., for allegedly ill-advising him not to submit the 2012 manuscript of "No Easy Day" to the Department of Defense for review, the Associated Press reported.
Apparently, Podlaski told Bissonnette to not let the Department of Defense and other governmental agencies perform a pre-publication review of his book since the attorney claimed that he had already reviewed the book and removed all classified and sensitive information through government clearance.
Filed in a Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday, the lawsuit is seeking at least $8 million in unspecified compensatory damages, including loss of consulting jobs, speaking engagements and future employment opportunities, according to CBS News.
"The task (Podlaski) purported to undertake for the benefit of plaintiff and his writing team was absolutely contrary to law and doomed to failure from the start," documents read.
Podlaski "had no legal right to substitute his judgment for that of the Department of Defense or other agencies of the United States as to what is considered classified or otherwise sensitive information," the papers charge.
The book, penned under the name of Mark Owen, is about SEAL Team 6's raid in May 2011 that resulted in the killing of the head of al-Qaida in Pakistan. According to the lawsuit, the author wrote the book "after realizing that others who did not know the accurate facts were writing about and discussing" the incident in a wrongful manner, according to the AP.
Bissonnette had intended to donate a substantial portion of proceeds from the book to charity and was always aware that the disclosure of sensitive information could put other SEALs in danger, New York Daily News reported.
"He was devoted to not disclosing anything he thought could be used by America's enemies. To insure he complied with all his obligations of confidentiality, he sought out legal counsel to advise him," the lawsuit said.
Now, the fiasco has forced Bissonnette to surrender "the majority of all income he has received from his book as well as all future income he otherwise would have received" to the government, according to documents.
Additionally, he has also lost movie rights to the book, with the lawsuit noting that sales of his upcoming book, "No Hero," will most definitely suffer as well.
"His reputation and his exemplary military record (have been) tarnished by the false accusation that he sought to profit from disclosure of classified or otherwise sensitive information," court documents read.
Meanwhile, messages seeking comment from Podlaski were not immediately returned.
