According to a survey by the Department of Justice Watchdog, FBI agents stationed abroad had sex with prostitutes from Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand.
The document, released Thursday in response to a lawsuit by the New York Times, covers activities from 2009 to 2018, explaining how FBI employees take turns paying for sex or accepting sex while interacting with police in several countries, portraying the tacit culture in which women are freely used for sex.
Previously unpublished information provided the utmost photographs of DAMNING's actions by FBI agents overseas, and resolved some of the unanswered questions from the scandal that began under the first Trump administration and was largely quiet over the years as government lawyers insisted on disclosing details. They come as new FBI director Kash Patel has promised to remake the station.
Prostitution is common in Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand, but it is illegal in all three countries. The FBI has made its fight against sex trafficking a priority and prohibits employees from paying for sex.
The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Part of the activity occurred when officials were in other countries for meetings and events. In 2017, FBI officials visited Bangkok twice to visit events and twice to a bar they negotiated for sex at the police company, the report says.
That same year, Royal Thai police co-hosted a training course with the FBI, the law enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, and the Homeland Security Investigation, on the fight against human trafficking.
It is unclear whether an FBI employee asked for sex during anti-trafficking training or another event.
In Manila in 2018, a bystander at another event, FBI employees accepted prostitutes paid by local law enforcement, the report says.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2018 that several FBI employees had been recalled from Asian cities, and inspectors investigated alleged contact with the prostitute.
In 2021, the inspector's office posted a brief summary of the investigation, noting that five employees were seeking sex abroad, one of them giving their colleagues a “package containing about 100 white pills to be delivered to foreign law enforcement officers.”
The report reveals that several violations occurred while multiple FBI employees were present. When employees were given room keys and numbered documents to accommodate their hotel rooms, going out to the karaoke bar became suspicious. At least one of the employees on the outing was a supervisor.
At one point, the two employees are engaged in sexual intercourse with prostitutes while sharing rooms, the report says.
After the Times called for an internal report in 2023, both the Biden and Trump administrations' Justice Departments fought to keep the information secret. Last year, the Department of Justice released a highly edited version of the document. It was released more fully on Thursday only after a federal judge in the Southern District of New York ordered it to do so.
Five employees who sought sex were resigned, retired or deleted during an investigation by the watchdog.
The FBI is not the first US law enforcement agency to be scrutinized for staff exploits overseas. In 2015, Justice Department inspectors revealed that agents from the Colombian Drug Enforcement Agency had attended a sex party with prostitutes paid by drug cartels for years. The report prompted Congressional investigations, and the retirement of the top Obama administration drug officials was quick to follow.
And in 2012, Secret Service was caught up in a prostitution scandal involving 12 agents in Colombia.
After the 2015 scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memorandum banning employees from seeking prostitution, even if they are legal or accepted in foreign countries. The practice “undermines the efforts of the sector to eradicate the tragedy of human trafficking.” Several Asian employees violated the order, a recent report noted.
Department of Justice inspectors are tasked with investigating and auditing the department's programs and documenting abuses by their personnel.
President Trump has developed controversial relationships with such watchdogs. A few days after taking office in January, he fired 12 inspectors from other agencies, but was spared by Justice Department inspectors.
