Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne resigns amid Russian spy link, 'deep state' comments

By Jonathan GarberPublished August 22, 2019MarketsFOXBusiness

Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here's what you need to know as you start your Friday and the weekend ...

Overstock CEO resigns amid ties to Russia investigation, says he received ‘fishy orders’ from ex-FBI official Strzok
Overstock founder and CEO Patrick Byrne resigned Thursday after 20 years at the company amid his ties to a government investigation related to the 2016 election, and he made a series of controversial allegations in interviews with Fox Business and Fox News. In an interview with Fox Business’ "Varney & Co.," Byrne said the investigation is "all about political espionage" and that he thinks “we are about to see the biggest scandal in American history.”

Then, in an interview with Fox News' Martha MacCallum on "The Story," he said he had helped the federal government with investigations twice in the past, including to "help them take down people on Wall Street." However, several years after his last contact with the government, Byrne said FBI officials - whom he characterized as "the Men in Black" -- reached out to him in 2016 and asked him for a "third favor." "I was given some fishy orders and I carried them out in 2015-2016, thinking I was conducting law enforcement," he said.

"I didn't know who sent the orders, but I did them. Last summer, watching television and some congressional hearings, I figured out where these orders came from. They came from a guy named Peter Strzok." Byrne also named other individuals, with MacCallum reminding him those officials or former officials worked at the FBI. Byrne did not describe specific actions he was allegedly told to take, but characterized them as "political espionage." Click on the videos above to watch the interviews.