Washington – Eight individuals were arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out long-term, “deep-cover” assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation, the Justice Department announced today. Two additional defendants were also arrested Sunday for allegedly participating in the same Russian intelligence program within the United States.
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In total, 11 defendants, including the 10 arrested, are charged in two separate criminal complaints with conspiring to act as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation within the United States. Federal law prohibits individuals from acting as agents of foreign governments within the United States without prior notification to the U.S. Attorney General. Nine of the defendants are also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The defendants known as “Richard Murphy” and “Cynthia Murphy” were arrested yesterday by FBI agents at their residence in Montclair, N.J., and are expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan today. Vicky Pelaez and the defendant known as “Juan Lazaro” were arrested yesterday at their residence in Yonkers, N.Y., and are expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan today. Anna Chapman was arrested in Manhattan yesterday and is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan today.
The defendants known as “Michael Zottoli” and “Patricia Mills” were arrested yesterday at their residence in Arlington, Va., and are appearing in federal court in Alexandria, Va., today. Defendant Mikhail Semenko was arrested yesterday at his residence in Arlington and is appearing in federal court in Alexandria today. In addition, the defendants known as “Donald Howard Heathfield” and “Tracey Lee Ann Foley” were arrested at their residence in Boston yesterday and are appearing in federal court in Boston today. The defendant known as “Christopher R. Metsos” remains at large.
The charges are filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. All the defendants are charged with this violation. The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. All the defendants except Chapman and Semenko are charged with this violation.
This case is the result of a multi-year investigation conducted by the FBI; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; and the Counterespionage Section and the Office of Intelligence within the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Give it a few days and they’r all out… Russia isn’t israel
The charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
REDICULOUS!!!!!!
our Russian allies..
The charge of conspiracy to work as an agent for a foreign country carries a maximum of 5 years.. the charge of money laundering carries a maximum of 20 years.. what else is new?
so who gets a bigger sentence: they or Pollard? how about Rubashkin?
“what a country!”
Trust me,all they get is deportation and a slap on the wrist .They save real punishments for spys from allied countries like Israel .
Do you think they’ll get life sentences if convicted like they gave to Jonathan Pollard? I doubt it – we wouldn’t want to upset our staunch Russian “comrades!”
this is the first site to report this
Lets see if they will be treated as Jonathan Polard was.
About time the FBI started going after them.
Hmm 5 years? Why is Pollard still in prison after 25 years?
After watching the sholom rubashkin case can this government has no credibility
They might or might not be agents will never know nobody credible accused them so
Our government credibility is garbage
I am surprised we still buy every store this government says