Robert Levinson Fast Facts Personal Birth place: Flushing, New York Birth name: Robert Alan Levinson Father: name unavailable publicly Education: Attended New York University; City College of New York, B.A., 1970 Other Facts His family says Levinson suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure among other illnesses. Timeline 1998 – Levinson retires from the FBI. 1998-2007 – Levinson works as a private investigator. 2006 – Levinson is hired as a contractor by Tim Sampson, head of the Illicit Finance Group within the Office of Transnational Issues at the CIA, to write reports for the agency. The contract is for approximately $85,000. Three CIA employees, including Sampson, later lose their jobs for overstepping their authority as analysts and withholding information about Levinson after he disappeared.