James Rigny
James Rigny is the individual responsible for bringing the Wilson-Davis Memo into the public arena in 2018, having obtained the document while helping to disperse the estate of Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell following Mitchell's death in February 2016.
| Role | Space conference attendee; source of Wilson-Davis Memo leak |
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Relationship with Mitchell Estate
Around 2013, Rigny formed a close relationship with a confidential source while attending a space conference within the United States. This source had maintained close relationships with numerous Apollo astronauts, including Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon.
When Mitchell passed away unexpectedly in February 2016, Rigny's source was invited by Mitchell's immediate family to aid in dispersing the estate. Much of the estate's contents comprised belongings and documents marked for destruction. During this process, the source contacted Rigny to discuss documents found among Mitchell's possessions that referenced UFOs.
Release of the Wilson-Davis Memo
After being granted access to the materials, Rigny copied numerous documents of interest, including the 15-page Wilson-Davis memo documenting the alleged October 16, 2002 meeting between Vice Admiral Thomas Wilson and physicist Eric Davis regarding Wilson's 1997 discovery of and denial of access to a crash retrieval program.
Rigny's name was made public when he appeared on Richard Dolan's podcast, where he discussed the origin and contents of the memo. The document subsequently became one of the most significant pieces of evidence in modern UAP disclosure discourse and was entered into the official U.S. Congressional Record in 2022.