I think this qualifies as "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Not too much sympathy here but still if you lied to protect the government on this, seems like they'd stand behind you. This whole situation is an Alice in Wonderland, everything that is up, is down and everything that is down, is up. I can only hope Sutton pays.
Don't be silly. This is Sutton's office we're talking about here.