Exclusive: Secret Service Agent May Write Book About Scandal

Paying for prostitutes, partying at strip clubs and lots of boozing – they're the elements of the Secret Service sex scandal that’s rocking Washington and possibly a new tell-all book to be written by an agent at the center of the controversy.

The FOX Business Network has learned that Greg Stokes, one of the agents fired for his alleged involvement in the scandal, has told friends he might want to write a book about the matter.

It’s unclear what Stokes plans to write, or even if he will decide ultimately to go the literary route after a 20-year career in the agency. But in recent days, following the news that he had been among the first agents disciplined as part of the sex scandal, Stokes has reached out to people who could put him in touch with literary agents and publishers who might be interested in his story.

Given the profit squeeze at major book publishers, it's unclear how much of an advance such a book might generate. A person with knowledge of the matter says Stokes may be looking for a hefty advance, something along the lines of the $1.5 million that Greg Smith, a former Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) executive, received for a book about alleged sleazy behavior at his old firm.

“A secret service sex book could fetch anywhere from $75,000 to $500,000 or more depending on how many publishers bid on it,” said one prominent literary agent.

Smith, the agent noted, took advantage of the frenzy among publishers for the Goldman story after he wrote a New York Times Op-Ed that caused a stir on the Internet.

A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to comment. Stokes' attorney didn’t return telephone calls and emails for comment.

Stokes was one of the supervisors of President Obama’s Secret Service detail for his trip to Cartagena, Colombia, where agents allegedly paid for prostitutes after a night of heavy drinking. According to published reports, as many as 11 Secret Service agents paid for prostitutes, but the incident became public after one of the men involved allegedly refused to pay an agreed-upon fee to one of the women.

After the disagreement, Colombia authorities reported the incident to the US Embassy.

The Secret Service then announced that three men have been dismissed from the agency which is charged with protecting politicians including the president; later two of the men were identified in press reports as supervisors David Randall Chaney and Stokes.

One of the big questions swirling around the scandal is whether the incident is isolated or whether it's routine for Secret Service members to engage in such activities -- activities which have embarrassed the Obama Administration, but could have occurred under his predecessors as well.

If Stokes does write a book on the matter, he could provide those details as well. “This guy worked in the Secret Service during the Clinton years, so who knows what he saw,” said a person who knows Stokes.

One Washington-based attorney who had worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission and is familiar with confidentiality agreements involving government employees said it’s unclear if Secret Service agents “have advanced confidentiality agreements” like those at the Central Intelligence Agency which could prevent Stokes from writing a tell-all book about the shenanigans.

“But former Secret Service agents have written books before and appeared on television,” he added, thus they aren’t totally restricted.