FBI accused of retaliating against whistleblowers through internal reviews

The FBI has a long history of using its internal review processes to deter whistleblowers, a former special agent told Fox Digital.

What began in 2021 as a workplace dispute for Special Agent Valentine Fertitta turned into a years-long conflict when Fertitta raised concerns about his treatment, his wife said.

Emily Fertitta, who also worked in the office during the Biden administration, believes this is emblematic of a larger problem.

“A very simple equal employment opportunity case has turned into a huge whistleblower case that has implications for everyone,” she said. “National security retaliation is enormous for many whistleblowers.”

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Emily Fertitta and her husband, Valentine Fertitta, spoke to Fox News Digital about their experiences as FBI whistleblowers. (Emily Fertitta)

After an overseas deployment, Valentine Fertitta returned home with serious injuries that limited his participation in working for the FBI. After a manager challenged his reduced productivity, the agency blocked him from considering a promotion in 2021 — a decision that Valentine Fertitta believed violated FBI policies and federal employment law, according to the family’s attorney.

“Val’s supervisor at the time — this guy is just obsessed with statistics,” said Matthew Crotty, the Fertitta family’s legal advisor. “He was a troublemaker, really obsessed with advancing his career.”

But that was only the beginning of the conflict between Valentine Fertitta and the FBI.

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Believing that his management had violated government protections against injured employees, among other employment guarantees for veterans, Valentine Fertitta filed a whistleblower complaint. Shortly thereafter, he received his first ever negative job performance evaluation, was denied access to training, asked to provide past, present and future medical records and much more, according to his wife.

Exasperated, Valentine Fertitta appealed her case to the Lawyer Recruitment and Management Office (OARM) — the internal agency of the FBI responsible for acting as a safety net against whistleblower retaliation.

Less than a month later, the FBI opened an evaluation of his security clearance, according to their attorney.

“The main thing is timing,” Crotty said. “Within two weeks of Val beginning the OARM process, the FBI begins investigating Val’s suitability to hold a top secret security clearance.”

“The way the FBI can fire you without saying ‘you’re fired’ is to simply revoke your clearance,” Crotty added.

Emily Fertitta explained that the process has certain punitive effects. Among them: suspension of salary during the review period.

Emily Fertitta said the investigation also put pressure on her. As part of the security clearance evaluation, she said the office asked her to testify against her husband in what was going to be a three-day interview. When she asked for a lawyer, she said the FBI denied her request.

Emily Fertitta has decided to leave the agency. She said the dispute over her husband’s clearance was ongoing.

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The Supreme Court has granted the FBI broad powers to make decisions regarding its employees and their security clearances, with few exceptions. This means that during their tenure in the bureau, FBI agents have no external recourse to appeal a clearance dispute. Crotty said this applies to many internal review measures within the FBI.

The Supreme Court has granted the FBI broad powers to make decisions regarding its employees and their security clearances, with few exceptions. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“It doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. It’s a structural matter of the FBI. It’s been going on since Hoover,” Crotty said, referring to the first FBI director. “This is an agency that makes loyalty a core element – ​​and if you go against that by trying any of these internal processes – (they) are going to get back at you.”

“That’s what lawmakers need to know,” Crotty said.

Emily Fertitta said other whistleblowers faced similar opposition, pointing to public reports provided by the FBI.

OARM, the organization that Valentine Fertitta called upon shortly before the start of her evaluation, records complaints that the FBI has received from whistleblowers who believe they have faced some sort of retaliation. Over the past 10 annual reports submitted to Congress, OARM has received 107 complaints. During this period, OARM identified nine cases of retaliation.

“This is so much bigger than Val and Emily. This applies to so many other people who just don’t have the ability to express themselves,” Emily Fertitta said.

She said the Biden administration has done little to address the problem and hopes that, despite Trump’s openness to reorganizing government structures, the new administration will keep its promises of reform.

FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, September 17, 2025. (Jack Gruber/USA Today via Imagn Images)

“Congress could solve this problem without costing the taxpayer a dime by saying that if you’re an FBI reservist, you can go to federal court – just like an Amazon worker can – you can make this claim to a federal jury in federal court. That’s what needs to change,” Crotty said.

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“There are some jury verdicts that condemn the FBI to retaliation; once the FBI starts writing multimillion-dollar checks in jury verdicts, that’s how things get settled,” he added.

According to Crotty, the Fertitta family has a civil case pending against the FBI. That litigation is experiencing delays because of the FBI’s internal deliberations over Mr. Fertitta’s security clearance, he said.

The FBI declined to comment on the Fertitta case.