Shirtless Photo a Joke: FBI Agent Humphries Sparks David Petraeus Affair Scandal, 'Sexy' Photo Sent to Jill Kelley Just for Laughs

Frederick Humphries, aka the "Shirtless" FBI Agent, did send a bare-chested photo of himself posing between two target dummies to military liaison and socialite Jill Kelley, but it was meant as a total tongue-in-cheek joke, not in any way as a "sexual innuendo." But because agent Humphries was the one to spark off the FBI investigation that ousted David Petraeus' highly-controversial extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, investigators had to look into it. The infamous "shirtless FBI agent" photo deemed "Which one is Fred?" came up clean.

Humphries played a major role in discovering Petraeus' secret love affair with biographer Broadwell (read more on that here, here, and here). Military acquaintance-turned-friend Jill Kelley first contacted Humphries because she felt threated by a number of harassing, unidentified emails. Humphries looked into the case and ignited a FBI investigation which led the shady emails back to Broadwell. Things blew up after that - a number of intimate emails exchanged between Petraeus and Broadwell also surfaced. Petraeus eventually resigned from his post as CIA Director because of the publicized affair. The investigation also found that General John Allen, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, had also been exchanging "flirtatious" emails with Kelley. Oh, the powers and temptations of technology!

Thousands of email exchanges were probed during the investigation, including one that Humphries sent to Kelley back in 2010, featuring him "bald, muscular, and shirtless - standing between a pair of equally buff and bullet-ridden target dummies on a shooting range" (reports the New York Times).

But Humphries swears he is not involved in any of the sexual affair scandals. He is merely a jokester, and he sent that same picture to a number of friends and coworkers to get a few good chuckles (wonder if he's still laughing now).

Humphries spoke with the "Seattle Times" to settle all of the rumors on Thursday (Nov. 15). According to the report, the shirtless photo, which was also sent to a reporter at the publication in 2010, was taken following a "hard work out" with the SWAT team at MacDill Air Force Base. The image was sent from a joint personal email account that Humphries shares with his wife. Humphries insists that at one point his supervisor even posted the picture on an FBI bulletin board as a joke. His wife, a teacher, also has a framed copy.

So no, doesn't look like Humphries committed any adultery here.

Humphries is described as a "top-notch" operative who worked on the "millennium bomber" case years ago. Andrew Hamilton, a prosecutor who worked closely with Humphries on the case, said, "That's the first time I met him, as a case agent. We spent a lot of time together over the next couple years getting ready for trial, and I couldn't have asked for more as a case agent. He was very, very thorough, and very honest. We always thought we were very lucky to have him."