FBI Director Kash Patel’s Custom Liquor Bottles Spark Outrage Among Current and Former Agents

Kash Patel has got his own branded bourbon — and has been handing it out on the job.

The FBI Director, 46, has been giving custom-engraved bottles of Woodford Reserve to bureau staff, government officials, and civilians while conducting official business, according to a report The Atlantic published Wednesday, May 7.

The bottles are reportedly branded with the phrases “Kash Patel FBI Director” and “Ka$h,” alongside an FBI shield. Some also bear his autograph and the number nine — a reference to his status as the bureau’s ninth director, per the report.

Eight sources, including current and former FBI and Department of Justice employees, told the outlet that Patel, 46, routinely travels with a supply of the personalized whiskey. The outlet reported that DOJ planes were used to transport cases of bourbon, including during a trip to Milan for the Winter Olympics earlier this year — the same trip where Patel was filmed chugging beer with the gold medal–winning U.S. men’s hockey team.

One of the bottles even ended up on an online auction site, where The Atlantic purchased it. The seller said it had been a gift from Patel at an event in Las Vegas, per the report.

When a bottle went missing during a training seminar at the FBI’s Quantico facility in March, Patel reportedly threatened to polygraph and prosecute staff over its disappearance. “It turned into a s**tshow,” retired agent Kurt Siuzdak, who has assisted FBI employees with legal issues, told The Atlantic.

Former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst George Hill told the outlet the behavior reflected a deep misunderstanding of the bureau’s culture. “Handing out bottles of liquor at the premier law-enforcement agency — it makes me frightened for the country,” Hill said, adding, “Standards apply to everything and everyone — especially the boss.”

The FBI did not deny the bottles exist. A spokesperson told The Atlantic that the gifts were “part of a tradition in the FBI that started well over a decade ago, long before Director Patel arrived,” and that Patel “has followed all applicable ethical guidelines and pays for any personal gift himself.”

However, multiple current and former officials told the outlet they had never seen a director distribute personally branded liquor — with one former senior official bursting out laughing at the suggestion.

The bourbon revelations mark the latest in a growing list of controversies for the embattled director. As Globe previously reported, Patel faced internal backlash after ordering FBI agents to open a criminal leak investigation into The Atlantic‘s reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, over an earlier story alleging excessive drinking and erratic behavior. That article described Patel as being so seemingly intoxicated that his security detail struggled to wake him, and prompted a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the publication.

Days later, as Globe also reported, Patel ordered polygraph examinations of more than two dozen current and former members of his security detail and IT staff in an effort to root out leakers. The pattern has not gone unnoticed on Capitol Hill. House Democrats have called on Patel to complete an alcohol screening test in the wake of the initial allegations.