Hearing delayed for TV analyst accused of lying about CIA career

A court hearing for a frequent Fox News analyst charged with lying about a lengthy CIA career to win government work has been delayed until Friday morning.

Wayne Simmons, 62, of Annapolis, was indicted on claims that he won contracting work and received security clearances by falsely claiming that he had worked as a CIA officer for 27 years. He pleaded not guilty in October to counts of major fraud, wire fraud and making false statements.

He claimed to be ex-CIA. Prosectors say it was a lie.

Now, court records show, Simmons is to change his plea. A hearing in federal court in Alexandria was initially scheduled for 4 p.m., but has been moved to Friday morning. If a plea agreement has been reached, it will not be final until it has been approved by a judge.

An attorney for Simmons said he could not discuss the matter in detail but confirmed that Simmons would be in court. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to comment.

Simmons’s case has drawn national attention since he was indicted last fall. For years, Simmons has claimed to have taken part in CIA operations around the world, including “Deep Cover Intel Ops” against drug cartels and arms dealers in Latin America and the Middle East. He said on his website, which has since been taken down, that he was recruited into the agency’s “Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Group” in 1973 while serving in the Navy.

Simmons’s purported credentials helped him land a spot as an unpaid commentator for Fox News, where, beginning in 2002, he regularly weighed in on issues involving terrorism and national security. In 2009, he secured a temporary position through a subcontractor as an intelligence adviser to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal that involved a trip to Afghanistan, according to the seven-count indictment. Around the same time, he was hired by BAE Systems as a “Human Terrain System Team Leader” and received training for the role at a U.S. Army facility, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said it was all an elaborate fraud. In reality, they said, Simmons had no relevant experience and had concealed a long record of criminal activity that included 11 DUI convictions, as well as convictions for assault, gambling and firearm possession. They accused Simmons of repeatedly lying about his résumé in government documents used to vet him as a candidate for contracts. They also charged him with using his supposed CIA affiliation to coax an unidentified person into lending him $125,000 for a fraudulent real estate investment.

Simmons has been under house arrest at his Annapolis home since late last year. Prosecutors had fought to keep him in jail pending trial, arguing that he had a violent past and a history of ignoring court orders.