It was back in 2007,
in Annapolis, in a local establishment that would probably prefer not
to be named, when I first met Wayne
Simmons. He was there, smoking a cigar, with his then wife (who
passed in 2012). Wayne was sitting around the lounge when I and a
colleague walked in. He introduced himself and could not have been
more of a gentleman.
He told us about how
he was former CIA and used to go on “ops” all around the world. I
remember him telling us about how he chased a group of black kids off
his home in Annapolis (which he described as a farm), with his gun.
He was interesting.
I looked him up when
he left. I found references to his 27 year CIA career and Fox News
appearances on the web. I thought he was the coolest guy in the
world.
Not long after this,
I heard a story from a local business owner about Wayne. He
apparently got completely drunk and tried to arrest a cab driver,
claiming the man was a terrorist. Wayne, of course, was arrested. He
claimed he was CIA and gave the cop a card with a number to call.
Not long after, black SUVs arrived at the police station and someone
bailed him out. The charges have disappeared. They were likely
dismissed and expunged.
Wayne was working
for a defense contractor at the time and was advising senior military
personal in Afghanistan. He got that job because he claimed to be a
CIA veteran.
I would occasionally
see Wayne around town over the next several years. Our interactions
were always positive and I thought highly of him, despite his drunken
arrest. Who hasn't been a bit out of line after a few drinks anyway?
I friended him on Facebook. I thought many of his posts, especially
about Obama and Muslims were a bit much, but frankly, I respected and
feared him too much to challenge him, even when I suspected he was
full of it.
I never doubted that
the man was telling the truth about who he was or what he did.
I was completely
blown away when I read of his arrest on October
15, 2015, for lying about his CIA background and defrauding the
US government and another individual. According to the indictment,
filed in Federal Court in Virginia, Wayne:
Count IOn or about December 4, 2009, . .. did willfully and knowingly make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement and representation in a matter within thejurisdiction of a department or agency of the United States; that is, the defendant sent a letter to the U.S. Department of State in Arlington, Virginia, in support of his previously submitted U.S.Office of Personnel Management Standard Form 86, Questionnaire for National Security Positions, falsely stating that he had been employed as an "Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer" for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1973 to 2000.Count II. . . From in or about August 2008 through in or about March 2009, within the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, in connection with the foregoing procurement, the defendantWAYNE SHELBY SIMMONS did knowingly execute, attempt to execute, and cause to be executed a scheme and artifice with the intent to defraud the United States and to obtain moneyby means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.4. It was part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that:a. the defendant falsely represented to Company A and to the United States that he had spent 27 years working in "Outside Paramilitary Special Operations" for the CIA;b. the defendant used this false and fraudulent statement and representation to cause Company A to hire him as a Human Terrain System Team Leader under the requirements of the procurement and to cause the United States to train him at a U.S. Army facility to be deployed overseas alongside and in support of U.S. military personnel, though he never completed training and was never deployed;c. the defendant submitted to the United States a U.S. Office of Personnel Management Standard Form 86, Questionnaire for National Security Positions, falsely stating that he had been recruited to the CIA in 1973, that he had not previously been charged with or convicted of a felony offense, that his prior arrests and criminal convictions were directly related to his supposed intelligence work for the CIA, and that he had held a top secret security clearance from 1973 to 2000; . . .Counts VI and VII:. . . From in or about November 2011 through in or about December 2013, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the defendant WAYNE SHELBY SIMMONSknowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud victim EX. and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses,representations, and promises.12. It was part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that:a. the defendant falsely represented to EX. that he was a former agent of the CIA, and used his supposed affiliation with the CIA to bolster his credibility with E.L.;b. the defendant falsely represented to E.L. that he was involved in real estate investment projects and offered E.L. an opportunity to make a $125,000investment, with terms that included a 3% monthly payment and the option after six months either to pull the funds out of the project or to keep them invested over a longerperiod of time;c. there was in fact no real estate investment, and the defendant used the invested funds for personal purposes; . . .
So, if this was
true, Wayne was never in the CIA, had a felony record, and was
conning some woman out of her money. This was not the Wayne I knew.
Sure he got drunk and violent, but I just figured that was PTSD or
something from his CIA work. To make matters worse, the Feds moved to
seal the indictment because “The defendant has a significant
criminal history, including convictions for a crime of violence and
firearms offenses, and is believed to have had an ongoing association
with firearms notwithstanding those felony convictions. The
defendant, moreover, has a history of acting in an aggressive manner
. . .”
Wayne was initially
held without bond, but later, after
a hotly contested bond review hearing, a Federal judge released Wayne
on House Arrest, under very restrictive conditions. After Wayne
was released he was telling his friends that he was arrested because
he was on to Obama and whatever he was planning and that the Federal
judge saw through the prosecutor's lies. I have also heard rumors
that two retired generals met with Wayne recently and they are
standing by him.
Let us consider this
situation.
It is either that
our government is so incompetent that it allowed a career criminal
get employment advising senior military personal overseas or it hired
a career criminal as a CIA agent and paid him to commit crimes
overseas and here. (In his semi-auto-biographical novel, Wayne
suggests that he took part in murder, torture, and other crimes. On
the Bill O'Reilly show, Wayne
suggested involvement in torture. Wayne, you don't get a pass on
committing crimes just because you are employed by the CIA.) Either
prospect is disturbing. If Wayne is telling the truth, the CIA hired
him preciously because he was disposable because of his background.
More likely, Wayne is just lying. If he had Federal employment, there
would be a paper trail.
Looking at Wayne's
record is quite concerning. Wayne claims he was hired by the CIA out
of the Navy in 1973, but the
Navy has no record of him. In 1980, he was involved in a shooting
outside a disco in Prince George's County. According to the
Washington
Post,
the US Attorney prosecuting this case said in court that “Simmons
was accused of firing a pistol at three people he’d had a verbal
altercation with in the parking lot of a disco. . .” According to
the same article, the US Attorney claimed that Wayne had 11 DUIs and
other convictions, including for possessing
a firearm after a felony conviction. How did Wayne manage to get
so little time for the 1980 shooting so that he was able to get a new
conviction by 1983? How was he able to get 11 DUI convictions? You
have to work to get that many convictions. How was he able to
describe these convictions as related to his work with the CIA, when
the CIA is generally
not supposed to be operating on US soil? Was he telling his
friends and family that he really was deep on a CIA mission when he
was doing his sentences? Why did this record not raise red flags with
the people doing the background checks when he applied for contractor
jobs?
I could not find how
much time Wayne was sentenced to for his conviction for possessing a
firearm with a felony conviction in 1983, but on July 19, 1984, he was out of jail and got what may have been his first DUI. According to the Annapolis Capital, Wayne got probation and a fine. According to the paper, he had "no prior convictions." I don't know if they meant just for DUI. Records weren't as good back then. It is possible that they missed his other convictions.
We also know he was out of jail in 1987. In a Washington Post article on February 22, 1988, titled “Entrepreneurs Enter Business of AIDS testing” stated that Wayne and another person named Mark Regan opened a clinic in Greenbelt, MD, the previous year that offered private AIDS/HIV testing for a flat fee of $55. The article mentioned that hospitals required pre-testing and post-testing counseling and Wayne said that many people don't want that. Well, I'm sure that Wayne had his own way of counseling people.
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"Guess what you have, Jimmy." |
It does make more sense that Wayne was trying to take advantage of people with this company. But is it possible that it could be related to his alleged CIA work? The CIA has been known to use medical professionals to collect information on people. If so, again, this is a much bigger scandal and doesn't absolve Wayne. It just makes him guilty of bigger crimes against the American people.WAYNE S. SIMMONS ENJOINEDThe Commission today announced that Wayne S. Simmons consented to a permanent injunction, enjoining him from future violations of the registration and anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933.
From July 1987 through June 1988, Simmons was the president and a member of the Board of Directors of Blood-Check Inc., a company headquartered in Greenbelt, Maryland which offered blood-screening services to test for AIDS. The Complaint alleges that in January and February 1988, Simmons was responsible for Blood-Check’s offering to sell unregistered shares of its common stock by means of a prospectus which contained materially false and misleading statements concerning Blood-Check’s liabilities and its history of operations and revenues. It further alleges that Simmons violated the registration provisions of the Securities Act by advertising the availability of the prospectus through tombstone advertisements placed in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Annapolis Capitol, and The Baltimore Sun. (SEC v. Wayne S. Simmons, USDC DC, Civil Action No. 88-2899). https://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1988/dig100688.pdf
What Wayne was doing in the 1990s is still a bit of a mystery. Federal Court records on Pacer appear to show that he filed for bankruptcy in 1991, but this does not appear to be settled until 1997. Although the records from this time period are spotty online, since they haven't scanned in all the old documents. He and his wife were also sued in Federal Court in 1995. The docket entry reads “First National Bank of Maryland vs. Wayne S. Simmons and Corinne T. Simmons”. Pacer shows this disposition “Consent Judgment filed by Plaintiff First National Bank of Maryland, Defendant Wayne S. Simmons, Defendant Corinne T. Simmons Declaring Debt To Be NonDischargeable. (former employee).” What does “(former employee)” there mean, if anything? Was he employed by the bank? Was his wife? I don't know.
Wayne next shows up on September 9, 2002, in an article in the Annapolis Capital titled “Two teens charged in carjacking”. It states that a Wayne Simmons of Annapolis (I can only find one person in Annapolis with that name) was driving down Bywater Road in Annapolis, MD, when he was flagged over by someone who then pulled a gun on him and took his Chevy pickup. Court records show that one of the teens arrested had his charges dismissed in District Court. The other was sent to Circuit Court, but there is no record of the resolution. Were the charges sent to Juvenile Court and disposed of there? If so, why? Did information come to light that suggested Wayne was not telling the truth? I would love to look at those files. So would the Federal prosecutors, I bet, if they haven't already.
Around this time, Wayne joined Fox News. On December 7, 2003, according to TV listings in the New York Times, Wayne was to appear on Weekend Live with Tony Snow. On the same show was also James Woolsey, former director of the CIA. If Wayne wasn't in the CIA, it would have been quite a thing for him to appear on the same show as a former CIA director. What did Woolsey know, if anything, about Wayne? Unfortunately, the former director has turned into (or perhaps always was), a bit of a fringe character. And that's what almost makes Wayne's stories sound like they could be sort of believable. Parts of our government have been run by crazy and dangerous people. Why wouldn't they hire Wayne?
Wayne's crazy comments on Fox are well documented. He was part of a group of retired military and security professionals used by the Bush administration, specifically Rumsfeld, to push the Iraq war and endless war on the American people. Wayne and his crackpot friends say that is not the case.
Aside from pushing for more war, Wayne was also busy selling subprime mortgages. Here is his ad from the Annapolis Capital on August 28, 2004.
The ad reeks with arrogance. I wonder how many people picked up the phone and called him.
In 2005, Wayne attempted to start an airline, named Simmons Air. His company would fly people between Baltimore Washington International (BWI) and the Ocean City Airport. He hired a publicly company that put out this release in advance where it claimed that the successful launch of the company would be met with a party that would include “Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr, over 100 local business leaders and Mayor Jim Mathias of Ocean City, Maryland for a ceremonial ribbon cutting and celebration.” He contracted another company, Cape Air, to actually fly the planes. At the last moment, they opted to cancel the contract “reportedly after [Wayne] allowed an employee to bring a loaded gun aboard the plane”. The Washington Examiner also reported and court records confirmed that Simmons Air was successfully sued by numerous people and companies. Wayne was not personally on the hook, because he incorporated his business. His business was, according to state records, later forfeited.
In 2011, he applied for and was granted a patent for a credit card point of service payment authorization payment system. This is not something a typical con man does and partly why it makes Wayne such a mystery. He is an extremely intelligent man and could probably make a good living honestly. If he wasn't in the CIA, why is he running around pretending that he was and stealing from people? Although criminals often don't act logically.
In 2012, Wayne wrote a novel titled the Natanz Directive. It was highly praised by former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld and retired General Thomas McInerney. I recently ordered and read this book. We are really lucky that we survived the Bush administration if people in powerful positions like Rumsfeld and McInerney actually read Wayne's novel and thought it was anything but garbage. This book is pure neocon porn. And the main character is a retired CIA agent with 27 years experience who lives in Annapolis (in other words, Wayne) and who is a “superpatriot”, which is Wayne's favorite word in the book. It is funny as hell. Wayne has a serious Messiah Complex. The main character, Jake Conlan, get it J.C. or Jesus Christ, is the only one who can save the world. He drops down from the sky into the middle east where a loyal bunch of followers sacrifice themselves for him and his mission. Of course, one betrays him. Despite this, he makes a miraculous comeback, saves the world, and returns home to his father figure (Mr. Elliot). The plot is insane. It portrays little understanding of Iran or the middle east. And why, exactly, is the CIA sending a man well past his prime, who has a drinking problem, and who "sucks", by his own admission, at Farsi (the native language) into Iran on their most important mission? Rumsfeld and this general seriously read this and said “yeah, that makes sense.”?
The saga of Wayne Simmons will go on. Will he face additional charges? Will he really go to trial? Will there be broader implications for the granting of security clearances in the future? Will we seriously start looking at who is in power and what they really believe? If he is telling the truth, then as I said above, this has even more serious implications and indicates that our government is even more screwed up than I imagined. I am fascinated by this Simmons character, so much so that I went dressed as him for Halloween. I am even thinking of putting together a Wayne Simmons bar crawl around Annapolis. All you need is a gray mustache (real or fake) and a CIA hat. The bartenders here know him. When I went into one bar dressed as Wayne, the bartender laughed and told me about the last time Wayne was there and how he got kicked out for starting a fight.
I generally hate to pick on a guy when he is down, but Wayne represents much of what is wrong with America. He represents either the incompetence and/or malignancy of many of those in power. For years on Fox News he would spread outrageous hate about Obama, Muslims, or anyone else he didn't like. He has helped to debase our politics and has helped to turn people into extremists. My social media feeds are filled with people posting insane articles from fly-by-night websites that make crazy claims about Muslims, Obama, hispanics, or whatever. And whatever Wayne ultimately turns out to be a real spy, a con man, or something in between, he has contributed much to that culture.
Important links:
Kent Clizbe--Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Commentary
Wayne Simmons, international man of mystery!
The Curious Case of Fake CIA Agent Wayne Simmons and the Military Industrial Complex