Navy Seal got bum advice from lawyers, loses $4.5 million on book

LINK to article

Quote :

NEW YORK — A former Navy SEAL who wrote a book describing the raid that killed Osama bin Laden sued his former lawyers Wednesday for malpractice, saying they gave him bad advice that tarnished his reputation, cost him his U.S. security clearance and caused him to surrender much of the book's income to the government.

Using the pseudonym "Mark Owen" that he published the book under, Matt Bissonnette filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. His 2012 book, "No Easy Day," prompted a Pentagon inquiry that evolved into a criminal probe by the Justice Department.

Bissonnette seeks unspecified compensatory damages, saying his losses will amount to at least $8 million after he agreed to surrender most of the book's proceeds. He said he also will lose consulting jobs, speaking engagements and future employment.

Named as defendants were attorney Kevin Podlaski and the Carson Boxberger LLC firm in Indiana. Messages seeking comment were not immediately returned.

As a SEAL he should have known better. No sympathy from this camp.

However, I did just buy this book and American Assassin from a used book store in town

He knew better......

We agree on something. He knew better. Watch out though, there will be movie rights going to somebody one day soon.

nochain wrote:

He knew better......

You're right. I phrased that incorrectly when I said he SHOULD have known better... he DID know better, otherwise he would not have felt it necessary to get lawyers involved to "help" him navigate those confusing ethical waters.

I don't know... I feel like he may have betrayed his brothers, but I'll be able to tell you more after I read the book. Has anyone else read it? I'm reading American Sniper first, but I seem to have misplaced it in my travels this weekend :/

nochain wrote:

He knew better......

And knew what the reaction would be from the SEAL Community as well as the legal consequences.... When he and the others that endured that training they accept the conditions of serving....thankfully this isn't the norm from these highly dedicated professionals...

Eddard wrote:

We agree on something. He knew better.  Watch out though, there will be movie rights going to somebody one day soon.

There were movies made and not based on intelligence provided by any SEAL Team Members.....