An Army officer and his anesthesiologist spouse have been charged with attempting to offer the non-public well being data of service members to Russia, the Justice Division introduced on Thursday.
Maj. Jamie Lee Henry, 39, and his spouse, Anna Gabrielian, 36, had been indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday for conspiracy and wrongfully disclosing well being data of no less than seven folks, together with sufferers on the base the place Henry was stationed.
Henry was an Army physician who was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and held a secret degree safety clearance, in response to the indictment. He gained public recognition in 2015 for reportedly being the primary identified active-duty Army officer to return out as transgender and the primary service member to vary names and gender on navy data, earlier than a chronic political debate that finally led to open service for transgender troops.
Learn Subsequent: The Army’s New Health Check Is Right here. For Actual This Time. No, Critically. However Its Future is Unsure.
Though the BuzzFeed article that profiled Henry seven years in the past used feminine pronouns, Navy.com was advised by a Division of Justice spokeswoman that Henry used male pronouns in courtroom Friday.
In the meantime, Gabrielian, in response to the indictment, labored as an anesthesiologist at an unnamed medical establishment in Baltimore. Her identify is listed on a web site for Johns Hopkins Drugs as an teacher of anesthesiology and significant care medication. The location additionally notes that she speaks Russian.
Within the indictment, federal officers allege that it was Gabrielian who hatched the plot round August when she “reached out on to the Russian embassy by e-mail and cellphone, providing Russia her and her husband Henry’s help.” The FBI despatched an spy who made contact with Gabrielian, and later Henry, and gathered the majority of the proof that may serve to cost them.
Navy.com reached out to Henry’s lawyer for remark and clarification on his pronoun preferences however didn’t instantly hear again. Gabriellan didn’t have an lawyer listed in courtroom data.
Believing that they had been speaking to an individual related to the Russian authorities, Gabrielian and Henry supplied up personal well being data with the concept the Russian authorities might use it “to realize insights into the medical circumstances of people related to the U.S. authorities and navy [and] to use this data,” authorities allege.
Of their first assembly, Gabrielian advised the FBI agent that she made her husband learn “Contained in the Aquarium” — a e book by Viktor Suvorov that described his recruitment and coaching by the Soviet Union’s secret navy intelligence company — “as a result of it is the mentality of sacrificing all the things.”
For his half, Henry was extra conflicted, telling the FBI agent that “till the US really declares battle in opposition to Russia, I will assist as a lot as I would like.”
“At that time. I will have some moral points I’ve to work by means of,” he added.
Gabrielian replied: “You may work by means of these moral points.”
Per week later, when Gabrielian met with the spy, she referred to as her husband a “coward” who was involved over violating HIPAA privateness legal guidelines of their scheme to cross affected person data. Against this, she advised the agent that she “had no such considerations and violated HIPAA ‘on a regular basis.'”
Finally, on Aug. 31, the pair met up with the agent in a resort in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the place Gabrielian supplied up data on the partner of an individual working on the Workplace of Naval Intelligence and an Air Drive veteran.
“Gabrielian highlighted to the [undercover FBI agent] a medical challenge mirrored within the data of [the first patient] that Russia might exploit,” the indictment learn.
In the meantime, Henry offered data on 5 folks being handled at Fort Bragg that included a retired Army officer, a present Division of Protection worker, and three spouses of Army veterans — each residing and deceased.
In response to courtroom data, the couple even thought forward to a life on the run or in Russia.
Henry advised the FBI agent that he was “dedicated to helping Russia and had appeared into volunteering to affix the Russian Army after the battle in Ukraine started,” a Division of Justice press launch defined. Nevertheless, the indictment says he found “Russia needed folks with ‘fight expertise’ and he didn’t have any.”
Gabrielian, in the meantime, got here up with an escape plan for the couple’s youngsters if the pair “had been advised to behave in a approach that would expose their communications and actions to the U.S. authorities.”
“She needed her and Henry’s youngsters to ‘have a pleasant flight to Turkey to go on trip as a result of I do not need to finish in jail right here with my children being hostages over my head,'” the indictment alleges.
In response to the Division of Justice, each Gabrielian and Henry had their first courtroom appearances Thursday in Baltimore.
The press launch famous that, if convicted, the pair face a most sentence of 5 years in federal jail for the conspiracy, and a most of 10 years in federal jail for every depend of exposing well being data.
— Konstantin Toropin may be reached at konstantin.toropin@navy.com. Observe him on Twitter @ktoropin.
Associated: Navy Officer Sentenced After Mendacity About His Relationship with a Chinese language Protection Agency
Present Full Article
© Copyright 2022 Navy.com. All rights reserved. This materials might not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
