Maxwell's UK foreign office file... described him as.., "a thoroughly bad character and almost certainly financed by Russia."

Ref: Lydia Bell, "FO suspected Maxwell was a Russian agent, papers reveal" (Nov 2, 2003) The Telegraph: "...file, titled "Captain Ian Maxwell", at the National Archives in Kew, London, has been found to contain reports submitted to the Information Research Department (IRD), a covert unit of the Foreign Office, describing him as ..."