As tensions over the Riyadh office grew, and questions over his loyalties were being repeated in the news media, Abdel-Hafiz soon found himself under internal investigation. The charges against him were made by his ex-wife, who claimed that he had staged a burglary of his home in 1989 and then filed a false police report in order to fraudulently collect the insurance proceeds. Abdel-Hafiz also had allegedly failed to disclose the matter as part of his FBI background check. Abdel-Hafiz acknowledges that he failed a FBI polygraph when he denied the charges. But he told NEWSWEEK that the polygrapher had tried to rattle him before the test, hurling accusations that he was guilty of the charges and would do better to confess. “Once they accuse you, right before the test, it raises your blood pressure [and] makes it like you’re being deceptive,” he said.

The FBI traditionally gives great weight to polygraphs, but officials also acknowledge that they are only a “tool” and are not admissible in court because of their unreliability. In any case, the FBI Disciplinary Review Board, after reviewing the OPR file on Abdel-Hafiz’s case, concluded that the charges against him did not hold up.  The board, in its Jan. 30 letter to Abdel-Hafiz, noted that his ex-wife’s claims were “uncorroborated” and “the failed polygraph examination, considering your past history with that test, were not enough to substantiate her allegations against you.”  A FBI spokesman said the bureau could not comment on any personnel matters for reasons of privacy.