Matt Bissonette, a former Navy Seal that wrote a book detailing the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, must pay the government around $6.6 million, everything he has earned from the book proceeds.
In the settlement filed in a district court in Virginia, Bissonette admitted that he didn’t have his book reviewed by the Pentagon in advance of publication. In exchange, he has agreed to forfeit any profits, royalties, film rights and speaking fees associated with No Easy Day (which he penned under the pseudonym Mark Owen).
“I acted on the advice of my former attorney, but I now fully recognize that his advice was wrong. I apologize for my lapse,” he said in a statement. “It was a serious error that I urge others not to repeat. Although I never intended to endanger my former colleagues, I now recognize that failing to seek prepublication review could place them and their families at greater risk, for which I especially apologize.”