A trainee CIA officer has been convicted of assaulting his female colleague by wrapping a scarf around her neck and trying to kiss her.
Ashkan Bayatpour, 39, was convicted of assaulting her in a stairwell at the bureau’s headquarters on July 13, 2022.
He was found guilty of a state felony charge of assault and battery for finding out about the woman in the remote area.
Bayatpour, who served as an intelligence officer in the US Navy, told her, “There are many uses for this. This is what I want to do to you.’
His case is one of the first to break through the CIA’s veil of secrecy and be settled in open court – following a spate of sexual misconduct allegations.
Ashkan Bayatpour, 39, was convicted of assaulting her in a stairwell at the agency’s headquarters on July 13, 2022
He was found guilty of a state felony charge of assault and battery for finding out about the woman in the remote area
At least twenty women have come forward to complain about sexual violence, unwanted touching and coercion.
One even claimed that a senior manager came to a subordinate’s home and demanded sex while brandishing a gun.
The women claim they are fighting a campaign set up by the spy agency to silence them – warning that doing so would destroy their careers and jeopardize national security.
Attorney for the Bayatpour victim, Kevin Carroll, told DailyMail.com in a statement, “I am proud of the brave and strong victim.
“The CIA tried to prevent her honest cooperation with law enforcement, but she was too honest and too harsh.
“The Agency must begin to help, not continue to hinder, the many victims of sexual abuse who are now seeking justice through the justice system.
“The CIA must also eradicate the Agency’s violent sexual predators, who pose a threat to counterintelligence for the United States because they can be blackmailed by hostile foreign intelligence agencies based on their gross criminal misconduct.”
Bayatpour has remained in the role for more than a year since the woman reported to the CIA about the attack, and nine months since she raised the alarm with the FBI and local law enforcement.
Bayatpour, who served as an intelligence officer in the US Navy, told her, “There are many uses for this. This is what I want to do with you’
Fairfax General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith sentenced Bayatpour to six months’ probation and ordered him to surrender all firearms.
He has also been ordered to stay away from his victim while his lawyer appeals the sentence.
His victim reported the incident to the CIA within 48 hours, but was told to keep quiet. As a result of the attack, he suffers from PTSD, suicidal thoughts and lives in fear of running into him in the cafeteria.
Bayatpour’s attorney, Stuart Sears, admitted wrapping the scarf around the woman in the stairwell, but insisted his actions were in jest during a 40-minute walk together.
The incident, he said, was “a joke that didn’t land the way it was meant to.”
The CIA declined to say whether Bayatpour has faced internal discipline and says it would not comment on whether individuals are affiliated with the agency.
The number of complaints to the CIA’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity about sexual harassment and discrimination this year has already doubled last year’s total, detailing 76 separate incidents.
Kristin Alden, attorney for several other women who filed complaints, told the AP, “There are intimidators everywhere and bosses trying to cover them up.
Before Bayatpour’s case came to light, Agent Brian Jeffrey Raymond was the only other CIA employee to be publicly accused of sexual misconduct (pictured)
He is accused of drugging and raping dozens of women while they were unconscious over a period of fourteen years
“But the very nature of intelligence work—the culture of secrecy and people working under fake names—actually reinforces the chilling effect of retaliation and isolation felt by victims.”
Democrat Virginia Senator Mark Warner and Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio have both called for a watchdog investigation.
The pair overseeing the CIA are considering hearings on why the agency has failed women in its ranks for so long.
As of 2018, out of a total of 290 work-related complaints, the bureau has substantiated only one case based on gender.
Before Bayatpour’s case came to light, Agent Brian Jeffrey Raymond was the only other CIA employee to be publicly accused of sexual misconduct.
He is accused of drugging and raping dozens of women while they were unconscious over a period of fourteen years.
Raymond, 44, worked for the agency in multiple countries and was only discovered after a naked woman he met on Tinder screamed for help from the balcony of his government-rented apartment in Mexico City in 2020.
The women were reportedly warned not to make any reports for fear of exposing unspecified classified information — or endangering national security
Raymond, 44, worked for the agency in multiple countries and was only discovered after a naked woman he met on Tinder screamed for help from the balcony of his government-rented apartment in Mexico City in 2020.
The FBI discovered hundreds of images and videos of at least 24 women, with Raymond opening and in some cases groping and straddling the women’s eyelids.
He initially pleaded guilty to lesser crimes, but later withdrew the motion and was charged earlier this year on a 25-count charge of sexual assault, coercion and transportation of obscene material.
CIA director William Burns launched a series of reforms in May after congressional scrutiny.
He hired a psychologist to support those who had complaints and to manage the fledgling sexual assault prevention and response agency.
The reforms include streamlining the grievance process, supporting victims and speeding up the discipline of those who have committed misconduct.
CIA spokeswoman Tammy Kupperman Thorp said, “Our agents deserve nothing less than our laser-sharp focus on making sure they have a safe working environment.”
Congressional aides claim they have interacted with at least 20 women who worked for the CIA this year alone.
The behavior ranges from lewd remarks at after-work happy hours, to a woman claiming she was sexually assaulted by the top official on her first day after drinking alcohol.
Another alleges that her supervisor told her on her first day that they were “soul mates” and she then sent text messages suggesting sexual rendezvous.
He initially pleaded guilty to lesser crimes, but later withdrew the motion and was charged with a 25-count charge earlier this year.
In another case, a female CIA operative said one of her colleagues repeatedly discussed bondage, sent her nude photos of women and threatened to have her security records revoked unless she had sex with him.
Among the unwanted advances was an attempt by the colleague to “feed her pasta off the plane, which he spilled all over her and then offered to clean up the front of her shirt in an attempt to feel her chest.”
Lawyers for the women claim they were told they could not identify their alleged attackers, report the incidents to police or tell their relatives.
The women were reportedly warned not to make any reports for fear of exposing unspecified classified information — or endangering national security.
Other previously unknown cases of sexual assault and harassment have surfaced in dozens of appeals filed by CIA employees with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (EEOC)
A female contractor told the EEOC she was forced to endure a “cycle of pressure and manipulation” by a CIA executive.
He reportedly gave her unsolicited gifts, harassed her by email, and threatened to make their relationship with her partner public.