George W. Bush’s ex-press secretary called himself ‘weapon of mass destruction’: $10M lawsuit
He thinks he’s the bomb.
A former press secretary for President George W. Bush allegedly referred to himself as a “weapon of mass destruction” while trying to extort $10 million from a former employer, according to a new lawsuit.
Adam Levine — deputy press secretary at the White House during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq to look for actual weapons of mass destruction — also apparently claimed he would plant damaging stories about The Change Company if it didn’t pay him $10 million.
The California-based home loan firm is taking Levine, whom it describes as a “disgruntled former employee,”
to court, claiming he collected confidential information about co-workers and used it to extort the firm when he was reprimanded and eventually terminated for misconduct.
Levine had been chief of staff to the company’s CEO Steve Sugarman, but was reprimanded after using racial slurs, according to the suit, filed at Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.
“After being at TCC for over a year, TCC employees reported Levine’s conduct had become increasingly erratic and hostile towards other TCC employees, partners, and counter-parties,” according to the complaint, obtained by The Post.
The suit accuses him of “using racial slurs towards co-workers and others working in the building, including referring to Hispanic workers as ‘monkeys.'”
It also lists a series of other worrying behavior from Levine that allegedly took place while working at the company, including screaming profanities at co-workers and physically intimidating them, conducting “unauthorized background investigations on his co-workers and their families’ medical situations and personal lives,” as well as giving false information to investigators and management when they were investigating Levine himself.
Levine allegedly “launched a full-scale attack” after he received a negative performance review from the company, which serves predominantly minority borrowers in low-income neighborhoods, in February 2023. He was then placed on administrative leave a month later, according to the suit.
While on leave, Levine allegedly escalated his threats, demanded payoffs and harassed the company’s security staff and Sugarman, according to the lawsuit. He was also first to launch his own legal action, suing the company in April 2023.
TCC’s attorneys also claim Levine doctored confidential information, including allegedly falsifying documents that showed they had made a loan to a celebrity, who was allegedly misclassified as a low-income borrower.
The company is suing Levine for more than $10 million for its claims of fraud, intentionally interfering with contracts and breach of contract.
In Levine’s suit against TCC, filed in Orange County, he alleged the company committed securities fraud by mischaracterizing borrowers’ ethnicities and income levels.
He also claimed TCC employees hosted after-hours parties in the office where he claimed “criminal activities were occurring … including potential drug use and sexual assault.”
In his suit, Levine is seeking damages for wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation and breach of contract.
Despite claiming their focus is on underprivileged communities, The Change Company are alleged to have made a $3 million loan to actor Johnny Depp as well as loans to NFL legend Tony Gonzalez and other “well-heeled borrowers,” according to a Barron’s report.
However, TCC countered and claimed in their lawsuit Levine had provided “false and misleading” information in response to the Barron’s report.
The US Securities Exchange Commission also reportedly previously investigated TCC over some of Sugarman’s actions, but officials would not comment on specifics, according to Bloomberg. The SEC hasn’t accused the firm of wrongdoing and investigations don’t always lead to enforcement actions, the outlet noted. TCC has denied any wrongdoing and said it was unaware of any SEC investigation.
Calls to Levine’s lawyer to address the claims in the newly filed lawsuit were not immediately returned. He also declined to comment for this story to The Post.
Levine served as Bush’s former assistant White House press secretary from January 2002 to December 2003.
He also served as a senior aide to former US Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) and has worked in the finance industry as a vice president at Goldman Sachs.
