KEYWORD NOTICE – A Virginia jury acquits an ex-CIA recruit in an assault case that led to sexual misconduct reforms

A former CIA officer-trainee was acquitted by a Virginia jury Wednesday of charges that he attacked a female colleague in a stairwell, accusations that spurred a flood of sexual misconduct complaints and reforms at the spy agency.

Prosecutors said Ashkan Bayatpour came up behind a fellow trainee in the stairwell at CIA’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters in 2022, wrapped a scarf around her neck and tried to kiss her while making threatening remarks.

Bayatpour appealed last summer after he was convicted by a judge of the same misdemeanor assault and battery charge. Under Virginia law, the Alabama native and former Navy intelligence officer was entitled to a full jury trial in Fairfax County. The panel deliberated several hours Wednesday before its verdict.

“I’m grateful that a jury of my peers believed me and found me not guilty,” said the 40-year-old Bayatpour, who resigned from the CIA after the earlier conviction in the case. “Being falsely accused for the last two years has been a nightmare. My family and I have had so much of our peace, joy, privacy and security stolen from us, and my focus now is putting my life back together after this ordeal.”

Bayatpour acknowledged in the earlier bench trial that he wrapped the scarf around the woman’s neck but insisted his actions were intended in jest during a 40-minute walk together. The incident, his attorney said, was “a joke that didn’t land the way it was intended to land.”

The woman’s decision to take the case outside the spy agency emboldened at least two dozen female CIA employees to come forward to authorities and Congress over the past two years with their own stories of sexual assault, unwanted touching and what they contend is a campaign to keep them from speaking out.

An AP investigation found that their accusations, some of which go back years, ranged from lewd remarks about sexual fantasies to allegations that a veteran CIA officer at an office party reached up a colleague’s skirt and forcibly kissed her in front of stunned co-workers.

The House Intelligence Committee, in a bipartisan report this year, faulted the CIA for botching its response to such sexual misconduct allegations. The report, based on interviews with 26 whistleblowers and numerous briefings with CIA officials, found the agency’s investigation of sexual assault or harassment was ineffective and victims were discouraged from making complaints.

The agency said it has since reformed its policies, including making sure officers are aware they can report complaints to law enforcement, and other steps to streamline internal investigations, support victims and quickly discipline those responsible.

“We take the issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment extremely seriously, and we remain committed to ensuring a safe workplace for our officers,” the CIA said in a statement.

Bayatpour’s accuser, Rachel Cuda, was fired after filing a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging the CIA retaliated against her for reporting the incident to local law enforcement and testifying about it in a closed congressional hearing.

Her attorney, Kevin Carroll, said he was disappointed with the trial’s outcome and questioned the defendant’s tactics to clear his name, which he said included trying to shame the complainant with inaccurate, prejudicial and irrelevant allegations.

“This effort to tarnish her reputation is reprehensible, and it is surprising that it was allowed in 2024,” he said.

The AP generally does not identify those who say they have been sexually abused except when the alleged victims publicly identify themselves or consent to their name being published, as Cuda has in this case.

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Goodman reported from Miami, Mustian from New Orleans. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.