The Man Who Conned Everyone
How One Software Developer Extracted $15-28 Million From the CIA, the Pentagon, a Sheriff, and a Pillow Mogul — Using the Same Trick Four Times
By Project Milk Carton Investigations | February 2026
Part 1: The Man Who Conned Everyone
EDITORIAL NOTE: This investigation is built entirely on public records: federal court filings, state criminal dockets, congressional testimony, IRS filings, domain registration records, and on-the-record statements from named individuals including attorneys, federal judges, intelligence officials, and the subjects themselves. Where we assess patterns or draw analytical conclusions, we say so explicitly. Where questions remain unresolved, we flag them. We are not the first to investigate Dennis Montgomery — NPR, the New York Times, ProPublica, Playboy, and PBS have all covered aspects of this story. What we believe is new is the complete structural mapping of how a single fabricator’s claims traveled through a network of intermediaries to influence national policy, drain hundreds of millions in private wealth, and send at least one person to prison for nine years.
The Cycle
Dennis Lee Montgomery, born July 9, 1953, has executed what appears to be the same four-phase operation four times over two decades. Each cycle follows an identical pattern:
Make an extraordinary, unverifiable claim about proprietary software
Find an institutional backer with money or authority
Use secrecy — classification, the Fifth Amendment, immunity agreements — to prevent anyone from examining the software
When exposed, pivot to the next mark
This is not our characterization. It is the pattern that emerges from the documentary record.
Cycle One: The CIA (2001-2006)
In 2001, Montgomery and co-founder Warren Trepp — a former chief junk bond trader for Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert — were running eTreppid Technologies out of Reno, Nevada. Montgomery claimed he had developed software that could decode hidden Al-Qaeda messages embedded in Al Jazeera television broadcasts.
What is documented:
Representative Jim Gibbons (R-NV), who received over $100,000 in gifts from Warren Trepp according to a November 2006 Wall Street Journal front-page investigation, secured congressional earmarks for eTreppid’s initial CIA contracts.
In May 2003, Montgomery received an interim secret clearance. The CIA’s Science & Technology Directorate set up a secure room at eTreppid’s offices. According to James Risen’s reporting in the New York Times and later in his book Pay Any Price (Houghton Mifflin, 2014), the software was considered internally at CIA as potentially “the most important” intelligence tool in the war on terror.
CIA Director George Tenet briefed President George W. Bush on Montgomery’s intelligence in late 2003. Based on this briefing, transatlantic flights were grounded, an Orange Alert was issued, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York was evacuated.
France, which had also grounded flights based on the same intelligence, commissioned an independent technical study. French engineers at the DGSE concluded the technology was “an elaborate hoax” — there were simply too few pixels in an Al Jazeera broadcast to contain hidden barcode messages.
In 2004, eTreppid was awarded a $30 million no-bid contract with U.S. Special Operations Command. The company was ranked as the 16th-largest defense contractor that year.
In February 2006, the FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations opened an economic espionage investigation into Montgomery. The FBI raided his Reno home the following month.
The investigation was effectively killed when Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte invoked the state secrets privilege, preventing the government from pursuing the case — or recovering the money.
What we don’t know:
The classified contracts remain sealed. We do not know the exact total paid to eTreppid through classified channels, though reporting from multiple outlets places the figure between $20 million and $30 million.
Cycle Two: Blxware and the Vice President’s Office (2006-2009)
After eTreppid collapsed, Montgomery formed a new entity — OpSpring LLC, later renamed Blxware — with billionaire Tim Blixseth, his wife Edra, and Jack Kemp, the former vice presidential candidate and HUD Secretary.
What is documented:
According to court filings in the Blixseth bankruptcy proceedings, Kemp leveraged his personal friendship with Vice President Dick Cheney to arrange a meeting between the Blxware team and Samantha Ravich, Cheney’s national security adviser.
Blxware received at least $3 million in Air Force contracts for “research, development, test and evaluation,” according to federal contracting records. The contracts were heavily redacted.
Montgomery’s own attorney, Michael Flynn (not the general), withdrew from the case and, according to court filings reviewed by NPR, called Montgomery a “con artist” and a “habitual liar engaged in fraud.” He described the software as “a sham.”
In a 2008 deposition, Montgomery invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked whether his software was “a complete fraud.”
In a 54-page opinion, Magistrate Judge Valerie Cooke found by “clear and convincing evidence” that Montgomery had committed perjury in sworn declarations filed with the court. She wrote that his declarations were “filed in bad faith and for the improper purposes of attempting to manipulate these proceedings.”
In September 2008, Montgomery wrote $1.8 million in bad checks at Caesars Palace and the Palazzo casino in Las Vegas — nine checks ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 at Caesars alone, and $850,000 at the Palazzo. He was indicted on six felony counts of bad checks and false pretenses in Clark County, Nevada in 2010.
As of this writing — more than 14 years later — that indictment remains open and unresolved, with repeated continuances citing health issues.
Blxware was dissolved in 2009 as part of the Edra Blixseth bankruptcy.
What we don’t know:
Whether the Blxware software performed any legitimate function. No court or government entity has ever validated it.
Cycle Three: Sheriff Arpaio’s Office (2013-2015)
In October 2013, Tim Blixseth personally delivered a set of thumb drives to Mike Zullo, an investigator for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse. According to reporting by the Phoenix New Times, Blixseth “pulled the drives from his sock” at MCSO headquarters. The introduction was facilitated by conspiracy author Jerome Corsi.
What is documented:
Arpaio hired Montgomery as a confidential informant, paying him $10,000 per month from MCSO funds. An additional $50,000 in computer equipment was purchased on a county credit card at a Seattle store. Under oath in April 2015, Arpaio acknowledged the total cost to the county was approximately $250,000.
The payments came from RICO seizure funds — money originally earmarked for federal drug interdiction, not intelligence analysis.
Montgomery claimed his data proved that a federal judge overseeing a racial profiling case against Arpaio’s office was colluding against the sheriff. He also claimed to possess evidence of mass government surveillance.
According to court records, Montgomery told MCSO investigators he “played no role” in the construction of the HAMMER system — a claim that directly contradicts the narrative later promoted by Mary Fanning, which positioned Montgomery as the system’s creator.
In August 2015, Montgomery turned over 47 hard drives to FBI Miami under a limited production immunity agreement facilitated by Senior U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, former presiding judge of the FISA Court. A second limited testimony immunity agreement followed that December, and Montgomery was debriefed in a SCIF at the FBI Washington Field Office for 3.5 hours.
Former NSA analysts Kirk Wiebe and William Binney examined the contents of the 47 hard drives. According to on-the-record reporting, Wiebe called the data “complete and total FRAUD.” (Wiebe would later reverse this assessment in 2020, without explaining what new evidence changed his mind.)
What we don’t know:
What the FBI concluded about the 47 hard drives. No public report has been issued. The bureau has neither confirmed nor denied any investigation resulting from the material.
Cycle Four: HAMMER, SCORECARD, and the 2020 Election (2017-Present)
This is where a failing con artist became a matter of national consequence.
Beginning in March 2017, a website called TheAmericanReport.org — operated by a writer using the name “Mary Fanning” and a co-author identified only as “Alan Jones” — began publishing a series called “The Whistleblower Tapes.” The articles claimed that Montgomery had developed a CIA supercomputer called “THE HAMMER” and a vote-manipulation program called “SCORECARD.”
What is documented:
TheAmericanReport.org was registered on February 25, 2015 — with a 20-year registration term expiring in 2035. This is atypical for a journalism website. The domain uses GoDaddy with WHOIS privacy. The site runs WordPress on consumer-grade cPanel hosting.
“Mary Fanning” has been identified in court records and domain registrations as Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer. Her husband, Gregg Kirchhoefer, is a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis, one of the largest law firms in the world.
In 2018, according to public deal records, Kirkland & Ellis advised on the acquisition of Dominion Voting Systems by Staple Street Capital. Gregg Kirchhoefer’s wife was simultaneously publishing articles on TheAmericanReport.org alleging that Dominion’s systems were tools of election fraud.
This conflict of interest has never been publicly acknowledged by either Kirchhoefer.
An ethics complaint was filed against Gregg Kirchhoefer with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (IARDC) by Yaacov Apelbaum, CTO of XRVision, in December 2022. The outcome of that complaint is not public.
“Alan Jones,” listed as co-author on every article, has never been publicly identified. According to court records in a defamation lawsuit, Jones’ whereabouts were “unknown” and he could not be served.
On November 2-3, 2020 — during active voting — retired Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney (USAF, 3-star) appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast promoting the HAMMER and SCORECARD claims.
McInerney has admitted on the record that all of his information came from Mary Fanning. He conducted no independent verification.
On November 6, 2020, attorney Sidney Powell promoted the claims on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs.
On November 7, 2020, CISA Director Chris Krebs posted: “Hammer and Scorecard is still a hoax. That’s it. That’s the tweet.”
In January 2021, Brannon Howse of WVW Broadcast Network made a 21-minute phone call that connected Fanning to Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow. This call — documented in reporting by multiple outlets — was the critical brokering event that opened the financial pipeline.
Lindell subsequently carried Montgomery’s data to the White House, where he met with President Trump.
On February 5, 2021, the documentary “Absolute Proof” — produced by Fanning and Howse, funded by Lindell — aired on One America News. OAN ran a disclaimer stating Lindell was “solely responsible” for the content.
Staff involved in the production confirmed to the Daily Beast that the underlying data came from Dennis Montgomery.
In August 2021, Lindell held a “Cyber Symposium” and offered $5 million to anyone who could disprove the data. Every independent expert who examined the data at the symposium concluded it was fabricated. The $5 million was later awarded by an arbitration panel to Robert Zeidman, a software expert who proved the data was not authentic.
Between 2020 and 2023, Lindell paid an estimated $3 million or more in cash to Montgomery’s team, according to on-the-record statements by Josh Merritt (a member of Lindell’s “cyber experts” group) to Salon. Additionally, a $1.5 million home in Naples, Florida was purchased on July 12, 2021 through an entity called the “Gray Horse Trust” using Lindell’s funds. The home — a four-bedroom property with a swimming pool — is where Montgomery registered a revived Blxware LLC on August 23, 2021.
Downstream consequences that are documented:
Conan Hayes, a former professional surfer with no computer credentials, accessed voting machines in at least four states. In Mesa County, Colorado, he used a fake ID (the name “Gerald Wood”) to gain access. His activities led to the conviction of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters on seven charges, four of them felonies. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts in the Georgia RICO case.
Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., and found liable for $148 million in defamation damages to election workers.
Lindell was found liable for defaming Dominion employee Eric Coomer, ordered to pay $2.3 million.
Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.3 billion lawsuit against Lindell remains pending.
Lindell has stated publicly that he spent $35 million or more of his own money on election fraud claims.
Patrick Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com, invested $27 million or more through the America Project, including $3.25 million for the Arizona audit and $200,000 per year to Conan Hayes.
What we don’t know:
The current status of Montgomery’s 14-year-old felony indictment in Clark County, Nevada.
Whether Montgomery complied with Smartmatic’s subpoena for deposition.
The full financial details of the Gray Horse Trust.
Whether any money flows from Fanning to Montgomery, or only in the other direction through Lindell.
What happened to the 47 hard drives turned over to the FBI in 2015.
The real identity of “Alan Jones.”
Whether Montgomery is receiving ongoing income from the WMD (Wireless Monitoring Device) that Lindell distributed to election officials in 2023.
Whether Gregg Kirchhoefer was aware of his wife’s anti-Dominion publications while his firm was advising on the Dominion acquisition.
The Pattern
We are not the first to call Dennis Montgomery a fraud. NPR titled their 2009 investigation “The Man Who Conned the Pentagon.” His own attorney called him a con artist. A federal magistrate found he committed perjury by clear and convincing evidence. NSA analysts who examined his data called it “complete and total fraud.”
What we believe has not been fully mapped before is the structure — how a single discredited source was rehabilitated through a network of intermediaries, each adding a layer of apparent credibility, until fabricated claims influenced a sitting president, drained more than $200 million in private wealth, and sent a county clerk to prison for nine years.
In the next installment, we will map that network node by node, using a methodology borrowed from game theory — the same mathematical frameworks used to analyze cartels and intelligence networks. We will show that every person who “independently confirmed” Montgomery’s claims traces back to Montgomery himself. Every road leads to Montgomery.
SOURCES:
Federal court filings (D. Nevada, D.D.C., D.C. Circuit, 9th Circuit), Clark County NV criminal docket, MCSO records, Blixseth bankruptcy proceedings, James Risen (Pay Any Price, 2014), NPR (The Man Who Conned the Pentagon, 2009), New York Times (Risen/Lichtblau, 2011), Wall Street Journal (Gibbons investigation, 2006), Phoenix New Times (2014), Daily Beast (2020-2021), Salon (Merritt statements), ProPublica (2011), CISA Director Krebs public statement (Nov 7, 2020), domain WHOIS records, Florida SOS filings, Illinois corporate records.
ABOUT THIS SERIES: “Constitutional Republic” is an investigative series by Project Milk Carton, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 33-1323547) dedicated to child welfare transparency. Our mission is to shine light on the systems — and the actors — that affect the safety of children and the integrity of the institutions families depend on. This investigation was conducted using ARIA, our Autonomous Research & Intelligence Agent, which cross-referenced 340 million+ public records across federal grants, campaign finance, nonprofit filings, court records, and child welfare databases.
Project Milk Carton — Shining light where it matters.