Navy SEAL who wrote book on bin Laden raid sues ex-attorneys
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," the SEAL 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, over whether the book disclosed classified information.
Owen spoke with "60 Minutes" about the book twice, when it was released in 2012 and in an interview that aired just this past Sunday.
"Did I disclose anything that would've put the guys in harm's way? That's absolutely not what I intended to do," Owen told Scott Pelley Sunday. "These are my brothers that I served beside for years. And a lot of them continue to serve. These are guys I had, you know, lived and died next to. These are not guys that I would want to sacrifice their security for any reason."
In the lawsuit, Owen 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 left by the Associated Press seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Owen said he acted on the advice of his former lawyers when he did not let the Department of Defense and other governmental agencies perform a pre-publication review of his book and when he relied on their advice that they had reviewed the book and removed all classified and sensitive information.
"From the beginning, I've always tried to do the right thing," Owen said on "60 Minutes." "Had we purposely tried to go around what my obligations were, absolutely I should be held accountable. But the fact is I didn't. I hired a lawyer with my own money off to the side because I wanted to do the right thing. I got horrible advice and I've dealt with that for the past two years."
The lawsuit said Owen decided to write the book after realizing that others who did not know the accurate facts were writing about and discussing the daring May 2011 raid by SEAL Team 6 in Pakistan that killed the head of al Qaeda, who was the inspiration behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.
According to the lawsuit, Owen always had intended to donate a substantial portion of proceeds from the book to charity and was always aware that the disclosure of sensitive information could put other SEALs in danger.
"He was devoted to not disclosing anything he thought could be used by America's enemies. To insure he complied with all his obligations of confidentiality, he sought out legal counsel to advise him," the lawsuit said.
Owen said he was referred to Podlaski and the Boxberger firm by his literary agent and publisher, both located in New York.
The lawsuit noted that Owen referred to Podlaski and the firm when he said in the book that he hired a former special operations attorney to review the manuscript to ensure no "forbidden topics" were mentioned.
The lawsuit said Owen has agreed as part of a negotiated settlement to forfeit to the U.S. government the majority of all income he has received from the book, along with future income. It said the payment to the government has already exceeded $4.5 million.
According to the lawsuit, Owen will also lose all movie rights and income attributable to those rights, an amount believed to be in excess of $900,000.
The lawsuit said the controversy has tarnished his reputation and "exemplary military record" by the false accusation that he sought to profit from disclosing military secrets and had cost him his security clearance for not submitting the book for review.