FBI Rejects OC Mosque Informant's Complaint; Lawsuit Looms

Remember Craig Monteilh, that wacky convicted con artist who somehow convinced the FBI to pay him to spy on Muslims?

He's been trying for almost a year now to win recognition as a hero for supposedly stymieing unspecified (and unproven) terrorist plots in Orange County. The only problem with that scenario is that despite apparently wearing a wire in 2006 and 2007 while trying to cozy up to potential al Qaeda sympathizers, Monteilh succeeded in getting exactly one Muslim to say exactly one positive thing about Osama bin Laden.

To wit: he tape recorded Afghan immigrant Ahmadullah Sais Niazi calling the bearded cave dweller an “angel.” The FBI apparently used that tape recording to try to pressure Niazi to become an informant and when he refused, they arrested him for withholding pertinent, Taliban-related information about one of his Afghan in-laws when he applied to immigrate to this country.

I first wrote about
Monteilh back in April. The story included interviews with two women
that Monteilh ripped off to the tune of hundreds of thousands of
dollars by convincing them to lend him cash, which he was supposedly
investing in human growth hormone (HGH). Monteilh claims he was actually working for law enforcement on an HGH probe, but has never provided any evidence for that, and in fact, he served several months in prison for the crime.
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When I met with him last April, however, he did show me a minute order
stating that an FBI agent had requested that his probation be ended
because he had provided “valuable” information to the bureau. Although
it looked real, there was no way to determine the minute order's
authenticity, because it had already been sealed by the judge. However,
last week, Monteilh succeeded in having that document unsealed, and
he's now waving it around as evidence that he's a big hero after all.

Nothing
could be further from the truth. Again, what did the FBI get from
Monteilh? One nutty Afghan who lied on his immigration paperwork. It's
worth mentioning here that Irvine mosque director Sadullah Khan, whom
Monteilh had told me was supposedly recruiting terrorists to send to
Pakistan, has since left the mosque. Nope: not because the FBI arrested
him for being a terrorist, but because the mosque's board of directors fired him
for unspecified improprieties, a decision that seems to have had
something to do with protecting the interests of young female attendees.

Meanwhile,
Monteilh still wants mo' mo' money. He plans to file a multi-million
dollar lawsuit against the FBI, claiming the bureau ruined his life by
allowing him to be sent to prison for that aforementioned HGH ripoff,
and for failing to pay him cash it promised him. In reality, he's lucky
he got the FBI to have his probation ended, and lucky he got any money
from the bureau. The FBI should be ashamed that it ever paid a single
cent to Monteilh
to spy on Muslims. It's abundantly clear that this ridiculous move has
done nothing but rightfully embarrass the agency and both scare and
offend many OC Muslims who now legitimately worry that the feds are
spying on them.

But who said this story can't have a happy
ending. That happy ending is what purports to be Monteilh's Facebook
page. It has his photo and, until I emailed the page's author asking if
he indeed was Monteilh, it was listed under his full name. That name
has now been changed to Craig Rivers, although you can still find the page by Googling “Craig Monteilh” and Facebook. It's an obvious but rather entertaining hoax, with
purported membership in such humorous (or passionately serious, who's
to judge?) Facebook clubs such as Arab Male Celebrity Feet, Saudi Hairy
Gay, Gay Men Wrestling Club, Sorry Boys I Only Date Bears, Gay India
and the Michael Savage Fan Club.

To see more, just click on this link.

Enjoy!