The whistleblower, publicly identifying herself as Phaedra Almajid, was employed as an international media specialist at Qatar's 2022 bid between May 2009 and March 2010. She now says she entirely fabricated that story of bribes paid by the Qatar bid, and other corruption allegations, because she wanted to "hurt" the bid after they decided to move her from her job. She said she was "furious" at the bid's suggestion that she was not handling the international media competently, and, "acting irrationally", decided to make up the corruption stories "to show them I could control the international media".
She now says she came to feel "sorry" and "guilty" for having severely damaged the bid's reputation, and that she never expected her fabricated stories to reach as far as the UK parliament and an intention by Fifa to investigate them.