Episode 4: Bill Barr’s Undisclosed CIA Role Linked to Visa Fraud Scheme and DOJ Plot to Frame Whistleblower

September 4, 2025: NEW YORK, NY – Project Veritas today releases Part 4 of an investigative series documenting corruption, retaliation, and potential foul play at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Whistleblower, Patrícia Lélis, a former employee in the orbit of conservative media figure Armstrong Williams and former Attorney General Bill Barr, reveals how her attempts to expose visa fraud and other illegal activities involving the pair led to FBI raids, coerced plea deals, and ongoing death threats against her and her family. A newly leaked government document, signed by Bill Barr, appears to uncover CIA connections to Barr’s role in securing visas for foreign nationals, as well as the motive to silence Lélis.

Project Veritas launched this investigation following an April 2025 tip from a senior DOJ official about the prosecution of Patrícia Lélis, who is charged with sixteen counts related to visa fraud. The Trump DOJ official alleged a witch hunt led by former Attorney General Bill Barr claiming Barr utilized his allies within the department to target Lélis to seize her evidence, stating, “Barr has put the entire FBI after this woman to get all the documents she has.”

The tipster further revealed: “[Lélis] tried to report Barr to the FBI because he is part of a group of people who sell visas to millionaires. She is currently outside the USA with political asylum because she received death threats. Her case came to the DOJ last week… This woman has all the evidence you can imagine, including photos, phone calls, documents, etc. The craziest part of this story is that she called the FBI to report what was happening, and the following week the FBI went to her house to try to get the evidence she had but couldn't find it, so a prosecutor who is friends with Barr started threatening her there and tried to make her hand over the documents or else she would be charged with crimes she didn't commit.”

Project Veritas spent months verifying the DOJ tipster’s identity, interviewing Lélis, her legal team, and others, and reviewing hundreds of documents, texts, emails, and photos that support the DOJ official’s allegations.

Episode 1 exposed an alleged illegal visa scheme orchestrated by former Attorney General Bill Barr and conservative broadcaster Armstrong Williams to secure investor visas for foreigners through fake companies like “Reis Cosmetics.” The scheme used employees from Williams’ media company, Howard Stirk Holdings, to craft business plans for government approval, enabling visas for billionaire CEO Julian Reis’s parents, and others. Patrícia Lélis, originally hired as a journalist, was tasked with this work but began documenting the fraud upon realizing the companies were shams. Project Veritas verified this by visiting the listed Florida address of “Reis Cosmetics,” confirming the company did not exist.

In Episode 2, Lélis presented meeting notes, texts, emails, and burner phone records revealing secret DC meetings between Barr, Williams, and others to weaponize the justice system against President Donald Trump and his allies. Lélis documented talks of planned FBI raids on Trump’s properties and Barr’s collaboration with prosecutors Fani Willis and Jack Smith to push RICO charges. Barr reportedly advised Willis’ prosecution strategy to block Trump’s political comeback stating, "We should bring RICO because it's a very difficult type of charge to defend.”

Episode 3 uncovered a foreign bribery network connecting Williams' media empire to NYC Mayor Eric Adams, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, and international diplomats. Through additional records, Lélis alleged that Williams’ media company served as the hub for illegal lobbying, providing evidence of burner phones used to orchestrate the transfer of gold bars, luxury vacations, and illicit funds.

In the final installment of this series, Project Veritas outlines the retaliation Lélis has encountered for attempting to blow the whistle. "It's very easy to know why I am being prosecuted and no one else," she states. "I called the FBI to report Bill Barr and Armstrong Williams."

Anticipating an investigation into the extensive evidence she provided - thousands of documents, phone calls, photos, and meeting records detailing fake companies, visa fraud, and politically motivated prosecutions - Lélis found herself targeted by the FBI instead.

In August 2023, FBI agents raided her home, confiscating devices but failing to find critical evidence she had gathered from her time with Williams, including burner phones and notes. Lélis claims that US Prosecutor Russell Carlberg pressured her into a plea deal, disregarding exculpatory evidence she presented, such as emails and texts from her former employer Armstrong Williams and his attorney Clyde Vanel, who instructed her to handle visa applications for Julian Reis’ parents and others.

Lélis escaped to an undisclosed country in January 2024, securing political asylum due to death threats from Williams and his associates. Project Veritas has recorded numerous threats, including direct warnings against her life and family. In fact, during the release of this series, Lélis was ambushed by gunfire striking her apartment, followed by a chilling text message from a phone linked to Williams stating regret that the shot missed.

Though Patrícia Lélis reported ongoing threats to Prosecutor Russell Carlberg and the DOJ, no investigation has ensued.

Instead, as recently as June 2025, a phone number tied to Carlberg targeted Lélis, stating, “I know exactly where you are. I know everything you've been doing. Up until now, I've followed orders: keep you quiet, leave you breathing. I'm giving you one chance - one - to tell me the truth: are you in direct contact with someone at the DOJ? If you tell me now, honestly, I'll let you disappear. Live your sad little life wherever you've crawled off to. But if you lie to me - if you keep pushing - then know this: I have the power to accuse you of anything. I can have your name linked to cartels, and no one will question it. I can bury you without lifting a finger. No one is going to believe you. No one is going to listen. This is the only chance you get to cooperate - and walk away in peace. Don't waste it.”

Project Veritas has repeatedly contacted DOJ officials, including Carlberg’s superior, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, as well as current DOJ and FBI leadership, receiving no response. This silence aligns with concerns from DOJ sources that the department is being used to silence Lélis and protect its own.

In a May 2025 email, Lélis’ former attorney, John Carman, wrote to Erik Siebert, raising alarms about potential improper collusion between prosecutor Carlberg and Armstrong Williams: “I am realistic about the obstacles to having the office objectively evaluate what happened here and whether Mr. Carlberg has had any inappropriate contact with Armstrong Williams. Perhaps he had none - however, Mr. Williams has worked hard to give the impression that he has been calling the shots in this case.” He further reveals, "There are things that have gone on... pertaining to AG Barr... that are important for people to know."

As this investigation has progressed, internal documents from government sources continue to shed light on possible motives for officials to silence Lélis’ whistleblower claims. For the first time, Project Veritas can exclusively disclose a March 2023 document, signed by Bill Barr, detailing coordination between Attorney Russell Carlberg and “Agent” Peter Reis in recommending Lélis’ deportation. This document is shocking for many reasons, including the revelation in Episode 1 that Peter Reis is allegedly operating in the US on a fraudulent visa obtained through a Barr-Williams network and is identified as an alleged victim of Lélis’ in the indictment.

Project Veritas can only conclude that this visa scheme is part of Barr’s operation to secure documentation for intelligence agents like Reis, and Lélis’ FBI reports threatened to expose Barr’s previously undisclosed ongoing role within the CIA, motivating the cover-up to frame her for visa fraud.

Bolstering this conclusion is a startling December 2024 text sent to Patrícia Lélis from an attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. In the message, former US Attorney Jessica Aber writes, “I know you don't want to talk to me because I signed the papers to accuse you and you're afraid of me, but I hope you understand that you are in danger and that I didn't know what they were doing to you… When I found out what happens in the EDVA [Eastern District of Virginia], I haven't had any peace, and l am trying to reach out to you for that reason, or to one of your lawyers.”

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