Alexis Wilkins looks at her boyfriend, Kash Patel, as he speaks after being sworn in as the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on Feb. 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Samuel Corum | Sipa USA | AP
Alexis Wilkins, the longtime girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, is suing an ex-agent and self-described whistleblower for defamation, alleging he called her a former Israeli spy whose relationship with Patel is a “honeypot” operation.
The defendant, Kyle Seraphin, “has maliciously lied” about Wilkins by “falsely asserting that she—an American-born country singer—is an agent of a foreign government, assigned to manipulate and compromise the Director of the FBI,” Wilkins’ attorney wrote in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Austin, Texas.
Wilkins accuses Seraphin, a conservative podcaster who calls himself a “recovering FBI agent,” of “using this fabricated story as self-enriching clickbait.”
Wilkins is seeking at least $5 million in damages. The suit was first reported by Reason and highlighted Friday morning by Court Watch.
Her legal complaint homes in on Seraphin’s comments on “The Kyle Seraphin Show” on Aug. 22.
Patel “has had his own little ‘honeypot’ issue that’s been going on of late, so we’re just going to acknowledge it real publicly,” Seraphin said on the episode at the center of the lawsuit.
“He’s got a girlfriend that is half his age, who is apparently is both a country music singer, a political commentator on Rumble, a friend of John Rich through [FBI deputy Director Dan] Bongino, who also now owns a big chunk of Rumble, and she’s also a former Mossad agent in what is like the equivalent of their NSA.”
“But I’m sure that’s totally because, like, she’s really looking for like a cross-eyed, you know, kind of thickish built, super cool bro who’s almost 50 years old who’s Indian in America,” Seraphin said sarcastically.
“Like it has nothing to do with the fact that uh we’re really close to the Trump administration,” he said. “Anyway, I’m sure that’s totally just like love. That’s what real love looks like.”
Seraphin did not identify Wilkins by name, but her suit says his statement is “obviously about her specifically.”
Wilkins, 26, said her long-term relationship with Patel, 45, began in January 2023 and has been public knowledge. Patel was confirmed as FBI director in February.
Seraphin, discussing the lawsuit at length on his show on Friday morning, noted that similar claims about Wilkins have previously surfaced in social media posts that have generated significantly more attention than his comments did.
By calling her a honeypot, Seraphin is suggesting that Wilkins is “an agent of a foreign government who began a relationship with another for purposes of manipulating and compromising them,” the lawsuit says.
“He is accusing Ms. Wilkins of being a spy for a foreign government, conducting espionage to undermine our national security and/or to manipulate federal law enforcement at the highest level, and even committing treason,” her lawyer wrote.
“Ms. Wilkins is not even Jewish, much less Israeli, and has never set foot in Israel … The notion that her relationship with Dir. Patel is part of some plot against her country is vile and ridiculous.”
Seraphin, on his show, said he never made those claims.
The suit argues that since Seraphin “trades on his experience” as a former FBI counterterrorism agent, he cannot claim that he comments were mere hyperbole.
It also notes that Seraphin met with both Patel and Wilkins “at a conservative political event roughly two years ago,” before he was confirmed as FBI director.
Seraphin said on his show Friday morning that he had no recollection of having met them.
NBC News reported in January that Patel had reached out to Seraphin and two other conservative former special agents prior to being nominated to lead the FBI.
Patel “keeps tabs on me and the guys that he’s helped out, and also we share information about FBI stuff,” Seraphin told NBC at the time.