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U.S. Settles Lawsuit With Scientist In Anthrax Probe

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The Washington Post

Published: June 28, 2008

WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON - The Justice Department agreed Friday to pay biological-weapons expert Steven Hatfill a settlement valued at $5.85 million to drop a lawsuit he filed after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft named him a "person of interest" in the investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.

The government did not admit wrongdoing.

The scientist said his privacy rights were violated in the race to solve the notorious crimes.

Hatfill, who once worked at the Army's elite biological-warfare research center at suburban Fort Detrick, Md., has always maintained that he played no role in the mailing of lethal powder to lawmakers and media figures weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.

He said information that law enforcement agents supplied to the media cost him a job and any chance of employment.

"I don't think anyone would believe the Department of Justice would ... pay that kind of money unless they felt there was significant exposure at trial," said Brian Sun, a defense lawyer who represented nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee in a leak case.

The anthrax mailings killed five people and sickened 17 others, spreading fear on Capitol Hill and across the country.

At a 2002 news conference, Ashcroft named Hatfill a person of interest in the wide federal investigation.

Hatfill's home was searched; he was followed; and his conversations were wiretapped. He lost his job as an instructor at Louisiana State University and, he said, his reputation was tarnished.

He eventually sued Ashcroft, the Justice Department and the FBI, maintaining that they had violated his constitutional rights and prevented him from earning a living.

Under the terms of the deal, the Justice Department agreed to give Hatfill a lump sum of $2.8 million and to purchase an annuity that would provide the scientist an annual income of $150,000 for the next two decades.

The total cost to taxpayers will be about $4.6 million, because the annuity will cost the government $1.78 million but will mature over time to $3 million.

Brian Roehrkasse, a Justice spokesman, said the investigation of the anthrax attacks continues.

"This investigation remains among the department's highest law enforcement priorities," he said.

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