A federal court judge in Santa Ana Monday gave the Department of Justice time to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on its defense against a lawsuit alleging it improperly spied on Muslims in Orange County after a central figure in the case made strange claims related to his role in it.
The class action lawsuit filed in 2011 stemmed from FBI surveillance of local Muslims in 2006 known as Operation Flex. Fitness instructor Craig Monteilh was recruited by the FBI to become an informant who masqueraded as a convert to Islam who joined the Islamic Center of Irvine.
Now-retired U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney dismissed the case in 2012 based on the government’s claim it could not defend itself without revealing state secrets.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Carney’s ruling in part and reversed it in part and that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the appellate court ruling in 2022 and sent it back to the Ninth Circuit, which ruled in December that the religious discrimination case could move forward without considering the privileged information and left it up to U.S. District Judge David O. Carter to sort it out.
Department of Justice attorneys on June 30 filed a motion alerting Carter that Monteilh had sent them a statement claiming that earlier declarations he filed in the case were inaccurate and in some instances “made up.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs contend the case could move forward without Monteilh’s evidence. The Department of Justice is likely to appeal the December ruling to the high court, so Carter gave them time to decide that before reengaging in the lawsuit.
Carter noted there was a deadline to file the appeal with the Supreme Court in August.
“We can wait that one month before I make a decision how this case can proceed,” Carter said. “Let’s see what the Supreme Court does first.”
Monteilh claims in his June 10th statement to the Department of Justice that he “created the idea of Operation Flex in May 2006. I pitched the idea of infiltrating mosques to four FBI agents at different times.”
He went on to claim he has a “history of creating operations dating back to 1983, at age 21.”
He also laid claim to the lawsuits against the government “so that I may obtain vital and admissible information,” and that he was motivated by the FBI reneging “on promises made to me that allowed me to be arrested and serve prison time after providing them with vital actionable intelligence and risking my life… I orchestrated the lawsuits as my revenge against the FBI. So my purpose was to expose Operation Flex and my participation and also to embarrass the corrupt FBI. And I’m damn proud of it.”
Monteilh said his cover was “exposed” by FBI agents when they outed him during criminal proceedings against Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, whose case was later dismissed by the government.
“So as a result I partnered with the (American Civil Liberties Union) and the Council on American Islamic Relations to protect myself from an enraged Islamic community knowing that I worked on behalf of the FBI infiltrating their mosques. The FBI was reckless and negligent,” Monteilh said.
“The main point was always that I’m not a man you (expletive) with,” he said of his motive for working with the plaintiffs. “I don’t care if you carry a badge and a gun or even wear a black robe. You (expletive) with me and I (expletive) back.”
Monteilh also claimed that he was a part of the takedown of Osama bin Laden.
“Former Attorney General Eric Holder asserted privilege over” the government’s efforts to track down Bin Laden in Pakistan to protect the identities of CIA assets “and how the assassination of Osama bin Laden actually occurred. That is the secret. That is what the government is ultimately protecting.”
Monteilh said Operation Flex with help from his “intelligence gathering… produce the real time location of Osama bin Laden, resulting in the killing of bin Laden. And I’m damn proud of it. I consider it a duty as an American citizen and am honored to have been the central figure on Operation Flex.”
He said it was “shameful” how the “FBI treated their most valued asset, me.”
As for the class action lawsuit he said it was time “to end this charade. The declarations that ACLU attorney (redacted) and I put together were not necessarily the truth.”
He added that the legal declarations he signed for the lawsuit are “not accurate information. Most of the information the ACLU and I made up. I do not stand by that information and I will not cooperate with the ACLU to advance 50-60% lies.”