DOJ: FBI Leaked Confidential Investigation Into Mickelson

The FBI's on a roll.

David Purdum reports exclusively for ESPN.com that an FBI agent may have leaked word of an investigation into Phil Mickelson and Billy Walters to both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Mickelson has since paid back "ill gotten gains" but will not be charged.

In the filing, the government reveals that an agent "admitted that he was a significant source of confidential information leaked to reporters at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times about the underlying investigation."

"The agent further admitted that, prior to his Dec. 6 interview, he had hidden those communications with the press from both the USAO and others within the FBI," the letter, submitted by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, states. "Based upon the agent's admissions, which the USAO and the FBI regard with the utmost seriousness, it is now an incontrovertible fact that there were FBI leaks of confidential information to the press regarding this investigation."

The FBI also turned up at The Memorial in one of the more brazen efforts to force a witnesses hand.