Ex-SEAL who wrote book on Bin Laden raid forfeits $6.8m

Matt Bissonnette, a former member of Navy SEAL Team 6 who wrote an account of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, agreed on Friday to forfeit $6.8 million (Dh24 million) in book royalties and speaking fees, and apologised for failing to clear his disclosures with the Pentagon, according to federal court documents.

Bissonnette also recently forfeited $180,000 in fees for consulting work he did for military contractors while he was still on the SEAL team, his lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, said in an interview.

If approved by a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, the royalty settlement would bring an end to more than two years of civil and criminal investigations into Bissonnette, who won several awards for valour in Iraq and Afghanistan before writing No Easy Day, his bestselling book on the Bin Laden raid, under the pen name Mark Owen.

The first-hand account of the daring raid was one of several high-profile books and movies involving former Navy SEALS that has led to criticism within a community once known for discretion that Bissonnette and the others were cashing in on their exploits.

The Justice Department conducted criminal investigations into whether Bissonnette had disclosed classified information in his book or speeches and whether he had violated conflict-of-interest laws in consulting for companies that had contracts with SEAL Team 6. In the end, the department did not bring any criminal charges, settling instead for the cash forfeitures.

Bissonnette said in a statement that he regretted his failure to submit No Easy Day for vetting before it was published in 2012 so Pentagon officials could ensure that it did not include classified information. Bissonnette acknowledged that he was required under his security clearances to let the Pentagon review the book, and he blamed another lawyer for advising him that he did not need to do so.

“I acknowledge my mistake and have paid a stiff price, both personally and financially, for that error,” he said in a statement on Friday. “I accept responsibility for failing to submit the book for review and apologise sincerely for my oversight.”

Documents filed in US District Court in Alexandria on Friday indicated that Bissonnette must transfer nearly $6.8 million to the government as part of the settlement. The amount includes all of the $6.7 million in royalties he has earned on No Easy Day, as well as $100,000 in fees for six speeches he gave in early 2013 before the government approved the slides he used in such presentations.

Bissonnette wrote in No Easy Day that he was one of the SEALs who shot Bin Laden, and he and Robert O’Neill, another former SEAL Team 6 member who claims his shots were the fatal ones, have competed on the lecture circuit. Military officials said O’Neill is writing a book of his own and has asked the Pentagon to vet it.