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Judge rules Jill Kelley privacy suit can proceed

 
Jill Kelley’s complaint about emails exposed an affair that caused a CIA director to resign.
Jill Kelley’s complaint about emails exposed an affair that caused a CIA director to resign.
Published Sept. 16, 2014

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Monday that Tampa socialite Jill Kelley can pursue her lawsuit alleging the government invaded her privacy in the scandal over former CIA director David Petraeus.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Kelley can press her claim that the FBI and Defense Department violated her privacy when officials allegedly leaked information about her to the news media.

The ruling does not deal with the merits of the case, but as the lawsuit proceeds, it could reveal more about the roles that various government agencies played as the scandal unfolded two years ago.

In 2012, Kelley complained to the FBI when a then-unknown person sent her harassing emails. Her complaint triggered a criminal investigation that led agents to Paula Broadwell, who was Petraeus' biographer and with whom he had been having an affair.

Amid the sensational disclosure about the CIA director, Kelley's name and some of the harassing emails were leaked to the media. The leaks also linked Marine Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as being under investigation for allegedly inappropriate communications with Kelley.

Kelley held events at her Bayshore Boulevard mansion that included military brass from MacDill Air Force Base, where Petraeus and Allen had once been stationed.

According to court filings by Kelley's attorneys, the government falsely told one news outlet the emails between Allen and Kelley were the equivalent of phone sex. The lawyers argued that given the prurient nature of the investigation and the "other woman" narrative propounded by the leakers, it was likely that Kelley's treatment was motivated by sexual discrimination. The Pentagon's inspector general exonerated Allen, who subsequently retired.