CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT Definition & Meaning

confidential informant

[ kon-fi-den-shuhl in-fawr-muhnt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a person who works undercover for law enforcement to gather information about felonious criminal activities: some confidential informants are criminals themselves, hired to work undercover in exchange for leniency or exoneration: : CI
We’re told that this elusive drug lord was finally taken down thanks largely to a confidential informant, whose identity remains fiercely protected.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of confidential informant¹

First recorded in 1940–45

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Smirnov was a longtime confidential informant who had been feeding his FBI handler information about an array of criminal activities.

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A few weeks after the incident, according to Iza’s indictment, Deputy 1 contacted a narcotics detective and told him a confidential informant claimed the party planner had large amounts of fentanyl and cocaine at his house.

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A confidential informant claims that Moyano is linked to several robberies in other states and he is the leader of the group, referred to by the FBI as the South American Theft Group, according to court records.

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Months later, when the FBI tracked down a copy of the paperwork used to justify the search, investigators discovered that Deputy 1 had based it on information from an unnamed confidential informant.

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Mercurio told a confidential informant that he first connected with the Islamic State group during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were closed, Taylor said, and investigators later found files on his school-issued laptop detailing the group’s extremist ideology.

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