WASHINGTON — This flyboy has been shot down.
A philandering two-star Air Power common was busted by the service’s watchdog final yr for having “unprofessional and inappropriate relationships with a number of girls” — together with an enlisted service member, a married Protection Division civilian worker and three Capitol Hill staffers, based on a lurid report made public this week.
Former Air Power legislative liaison Maj. Gen. Christopher Finerty was discovered to have had improper sexual relationships — each bodily and over the cellphone — with 5 girls, violating three legal guidelines within the Navy Code of Justice, based on the Air Power IG report.
The report discovered a “preponderance of proof” that Finerty had violated the army’s prison bans on extramarital sexual conduct, fraternization — private relationships between officers and enlisted troops — and conduct unbecoming of an officer for a collection of trysts between 2020 and 2023.
“Maj. Gen. Finerty’s resolution to have interaction with the aforementioned girls, together with protecting these relationships secret, helps he needed to take care of privateness but additionally underscores his lack of judgment and an understanding the relationships … have been unprofessional,” the report discovered.
Finerty was first accused of sexting with a feminine enlisted airman he had beforehand supervised within the fall of 2020, after they despatched one another erotic pictures and messages on “seven or eight events,” the report discovered.
Although the 2 by no means had specific bodily contact, Finerty admitted to having “fantasy banter” with the a lot lower-ranking service member and calling her a “attractive bitch” — a flagrant violation of army regulation.
The next yr, Finerty, who then led the Air Power’s legislative affairs workplace on Capitol Hill, started sexting two staffers “sporadically over the course of ten months” and sexted “on a virtually day by day foundation” with a 3rd with whom he additionally had an “intimate relationship.”
“In every case, the sexting included dialogue on the sexual acts he would carry out on them and acts he would really like them to carry out on him,” the report stated. “With one, the sexting included an trade of pornographic photographs.”
The report described all three girls as having roles that required interplay with Finerty in his job main the service’s interactions with Congress on legislative priorities and the service’s funds.
“These people play key roles that make choices immediately affecting DoD and the Air Power,” the report stated of the ladies, “and Maj. Gen. Finerty was the pinnacle of the [Department of the Air Force] group with the first function of bridging Congressional staffers and leaders with the Air Power.”
The report additionally included excerpts of specific exchanges, together with one which appeared to happen throughout work hours after a gathering in Finerty’s workplace.
In one other trade, Finerty steered that he and one of many Hill staffers may “share a mattress to save lots of more cash” for the federal government on a piece journey.
Finerty argued that he “was not conscious of something that claims ‘thou shalt not have a private relationship’” with civilian authorities workers, however in the end admitted he knew there “could be plenty of unfavorable publicity and press as a result of these relationships are there.”
“That could be a private relationship that on no account detracts from knowledgeable relationship on the Hill,” Finerty informed investigators, based on the report.
However based on investigators, “practically all” the witnesses interviewed “voiced concern with unfavorable optics to the DAF, together with perceptions of ‘favoritism,’ ‘battle of curiosity,’ and ‘preferential therapy’ that could possibly be attributed to numerous DAF-Congressional laws gadgets.”
“Even contemplating the relationships with [staffers] the place he felt there was no impression to the Air Power, members of [Finerty’s] employees thought of his conduct ‘extremely inappropriate,’ ‘counterproductive,’ and ‘completely unprofessional.’
The report in the end discovered that “Finerty’s conduct fell effectively under the expectations of an Air Power Common Officer, disgraced him personally, and compromised his standing as each an officer and a gentleman,” which can also be a punishable offense in army regulation.
The next yr, Finerty had a sexual affair with a civilian DoD worker he knew was married to a fellow army officer, the report stated.
“She and Maj. Gen. Finerty … and had ‘about seven to eight, on the most,’ sexual encounters at his residence between November 2022 and February 2023,” the report stated, quoting the married girl.
Extramarital affairs are a criminal offense beneath the UCMJ — if the service member is conscious of a companion’s marriage standing. Whereas Finerty informed investigators he believed the girl was divorced, the IG workplace discovered textual content messages from the overall acknowledging his paramour was married and that he could possibly be punished.
“The 2 exchanged a textual content thread of 72 separate texts over the course of 4 hours with matters starting from previous sexual exploits, the potential for future sexual encounters, and MC’s present marital standing,” the report stated.
“The preponderance of the proof helps Maj. Gen. Finerty didn’t have an trustworthy or cheap perception [the woman] was legally separated or not married.”
Finerty was in the end demoted to brigadier common following the investigation, and retired from the service in November.
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