FBI questions source of sexual assault claims against former Virginia Lt. Gov

To date, there has been no public indication of a law enforcement investigation into the case. It is unclear whether the FBI has found any evidence of wrongdoing or what will come of the agency’s interrogation. Dee Rybisky, a public relations specialist at the FBI’s Richmond office, declined to comment, saying that as a matter of policy the bureau does not confirm or deny the existence of ongoing investigations.

Fairfax and Tommy R. Bennett, president of the Danville branch of the NAACP, told The Washington Post that the FBI had separately approached them to ask what they knew about the source of the allegations.

Three other people have also been contacted by the FBI, the three told The Post, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be publicly associated with the controversy. All three are democratic activists. One was a supporter of Fairfax, while another campaigned for one of Fairfax’s Democratic rivals. A third said he had never met Fairfax and was neutral in intra-party contests.

Fairfax, Bennett and two of the others provided The Post with records — copies of text messages, emails and, in one case, voicemails — showing how the FBI agent arranged personal interviews with them, although the subject of the meetings was not specified. One person who said the FBI interviewed him by phone did not provide documents.

Why Justin Fairfax continues to speak out about sexual assault allegations against him

At the invitation of the FBI, Fairfax said he sat down with several agents at the Richmond office in early June. He said he attended without a lawyer and spoke with agents for nearly three hours, recounting his claims that the allegations were false and aimed at ending his once-promising political career.

“I contacted the FBI from day one,” he said. “This is the first time they’ve asked to sit down and meet.”

Debra Katz, the attorney for one of Fairfax’s accusers, called the FBI’s actions “frivolous.”

“I have no idea why the FBI would investigate this when there is not one iota of evidence that any of the women came forward at the instigation of someone else and for improper reasons,” said Katz, whose client, Vanessa Tyson, accused Fairfax of assaulting her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, a charge Fairfax denies. “We are perplexed by this, especially in light of the fact that the FBI did not come to us to inform us that an investigation had begun or to seek evidence from Dr. Tyson.”

Nancy Erica Smith, the attorney for Fairfax’s second accuser, Meredith Watson, did not respond to messages from The Washington Post seeking comment. Watson said Fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2000 when they were students at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, which Fairfax denied.

“If it is true that the FBI is actually investigating two victims of Justin Fairfax, shame on the FBI,” Smith said in a statement to the Intercept, which published a story Monday about the FBI’s investigations. “This latest abuse is clearly at the behest of Fairfax and its political benefactors and PR team.”

The allegations surfaced in 2019 when Fairfax appeared on the verge of taking over the executive mansion from then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who came under intense pressure to resign after a racist photo appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook.

Northam eventually stayed on and largely recovered from the episode, but the damage to Fairfax was more lasting. Once considered the favorite to succeed Northam, Fairfax finished a distant fourth in his party’s gubernatorial primary last year, with less than 4 percent of the vote.

Bennett — who earned just under $24,000 working on Fairfax’s bid for lieutenant governor in 2017 but did not work for pay on Fairfax’s unsuccessful bid for governor last year — said he was surprised when a woman identifying posing as an FBI agent, called in June and asked to interview him about an unspecified matter.

“When they identified themselves, I was like, ‘What the hell?’ how he once responded to anti-gay bullying. “She said, ‘I’m with the FBI, but you’re fine.’ And I was like, ‘Thank you, Jesus.'”

A few days later, on June 15, the Richmond-based agent traveled to Danville with a Lynchburg agent to meet with Bennett at a downtown bakery, Ma’s Cakes, according to Bennett, who provided copies of two text messages from Richmond’s agent—one that they had arrived and the other that they were seated inside the ‘cake place’.

At that meeting, Bennett said he finally learned what the FBI was looking for: information about the charges against Fairfax.

“She said … ‘We’re looking into this and we’re trying to get everyone we know who knows something,'” Bennett said. “They weren’t calling names, they just wanted to see if I knew anything about someone doing something against Justin.”

Bennett said he told agents he would be willing to discuss the matter, but not without an attorney present. He provided a copy of a follow-up message from the agent dated July 6 asking if there was an attorney she could contact to schedule a second appointment.

Bennett said this week that he has not yet scheduled that meeting, but remains open to doing so.

Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.