Contributor

Jeffrey Sterling

Lawyer and former CIA case officer

Jeffrey Sterling was born and raised in Cape Girardeau, MO. He was the youngest of six brothers and raised by his single mother. After high school, he attended Millikin University at Decatur Illinois, joined Tau Kappa Epsilon, and graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Immediately following he went to Washington University in St. Louis, MO and earned his Juris Doctoris degree. Jeffrey was working in the public defenders office and answered a newspaper ad for employment with the CIA. He became a case officer for the CIA in 1993. While at the agency, he took the New York bar and became a licensed lawyer in 2000. He was at the agency until 2001 when he was fired due to suing the agency for racial discrimination.

Jeffrey was essentially blackballed, forcing him to make his way back to St. Louis. He ultimately ended up living with a former undergraduate college friend being a "manny" to their newborn daughter in exchange for room and board. In June of 2004 Jeffrey obtained employment as a Senior Health Insurance Fraud Investigator with WellPoint. He was extremely successful in his career and earned many awards. The last award was in 2010, in which he earned Honorable Mention for Investigation of the Year Award for exposing a Medicaid fraud ring that resulted in the prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of the nine individuals involved in the state of Florida. At the sentencing hearing, the judge recognized Jeffrey by having him stand up while she read his victim impact statement. During his career at WellPoint Jeffrey saved his company more than 32 million dollars due to healthcare fraud.

He was arrested on January 6, 2011, and was terminated from his job. During the entire time awaiting the trial, he was unsuccessful in obtaining any employment.

On January 26, 2015, he was convicted on 9 counts under the Espionage Act. On May 11, 2015 he was sentenced to 42 months with 2 years probation. He is at the Federal Correctional Institution located in Englewood, CO.

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