The Spy News Thread

Everything else!

Moderators: Bakhtosh, EvilHomer3k

User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Krebs
A Russian court has handed down lengthy prison terms for two men convicted on treason charges for allegedly sharing information about Russian cybercriminals with U.S. law enforcement officials. The men — a former Russian cyber intelligence official and an executive at Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab — were reportedly prosecuted for their part in an investigation into Pavel Vrublevsky, a convicted cybercriminal who ran one of the world’s biggest spam networks and was a major focus of my 2014 book, Spam Nation.

Sergei Mikhailov, formerly deputy chief of Russia’s top anti-cybercrime unit, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison. The court also levied a 14-year sentence against Ruslan Stoyanov, a senior employee at Kaspersky Lab. Both men maintained their innocence throughout the trial.

Following their dramatic arrests in 2016, many news media outlets reported that the men were suspected of having tipped off American intelligence officials about those responsible for Russian hacking activities tied to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

That’s because two others arrested for treason at the same time — Mikhailov subordinates Georgi Fomchenkov and Dmitry Dokuchaev — were reported by Russian media to have helped the FBI investigate Russian servers linked to the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The case against Fomchenkov and Dokuchaev has not yet gone to trial.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

ABC News
Fresh off a 62-day incarceration for defying a grand jury subpoena, Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and anti-secrecy activist, was remanded again Thursday afternoon after a federal judge held her in contempt of court.

United States Marshals took Manning back into custody at the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Thursday afternoon after she refused to cooperate, yet again, with a subpoena to testify before another secret federal grand jury.

Manning was set free last Thursday when the first grand jury’s term expired. Upon release, however, prosecutors hit her with a second subpoena to appear Thursday before a separate grand jury.
...
Manning’s latest confinement will persist until she complies with the subpoena or until the grand jury expires, U.S. Judge Anthony Trenga said in court on Thursday. Unlike her first confinement, after 30 days, Manning will be subject to a daily fine of $500. After 60 days, Manning will face a fine of $1,000 per day.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Max Peck
Posts: 13681
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Max Peck »

Kevin Mallory: Ex-CIA agent jailed for spying for China
A former CIA officer has been jailed for 20 years for disclosing military secrets to a Chinese agent, the US justice department says.

Kevin Mallory, 62, was found guilty of several spying offences following a two-week trial last June.

The fluent Mandarin speaker from Leesburg, Virginia, held top-level security clearance and had access to sensitive documents.

He was convicted of selling secrets to China for $25,000 (£19,600).
That seems like a pittance for selling out your country.
"What? What? What?" -- The 14th Doctor

It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:47 am WaPo
“On December 28, staff members of the Russian Federal Security Service detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow while on a spy mission,” the FSB said in a statement on its website. No other details were given.
Bloomberg
A senior official in Moscow urged the U.S. to consider swapping a jailed Russian pilot convicted of drug smuggling for its own citizens detained in Russia, news services reported.

Konstantin Yaroshenko could be exchanged for “an American or Americans who are imprisoned” in Russia, though the U.S. hasn’t responded positively to previous offers, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday, according to the Interfax news service. Yaroshenko is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. after he was arrested in Liberia in 2010 and extradited to America.

Ryabkov urged the U.S. to make an agreement on swapping Yaroshenko before any verdict is reached in the case of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, the state-run Tass news service reported. Whelan was detained by the Federal Security Service in Moscow in December and accused of spying, a charge that carries up to 20 years in prison. He denies the allegation.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow said on Twitter Monday that Whelan’s health has deteriorated in detention in Lefortovo prison, but Russian officials had rejected a request for him to be examined by an external doctor.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

CNN
In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN.

A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.
...
Knowledge of the Russian covert source's existence was highly restricted within the US government and intelligence agencies. According to one source, there was "no equal alternative" inside the Russian government, providing both insight and information on Putin.

CNN is withholding several details about the spy to reduce the risk of the person's identification.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Newsweek
The man said to have been the top U.S. spy in the Kremlin, before he was spirited out of Moscow over fears his identity might be revealed, has been named by Russian media sources.
...
Citing social media, the business newspaper Kommersant, reported that the U.S. spy was likely to have been Oleg Smolenkov, who was once an adviser to Putin's foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov. Independent news outlets The Moscow Times andThe Bell, as well as the BBC, also reported his name.

Citing details from an article in the Russian-language outlet Daily Storm, Smolenkov had worked in government agencies, including as a secretary at the Russian Embassy in Washington.

The newspaper reported that his swift disappearance from Moscow was initially investigated by Russian secret services, the FSB, as a murder. He did not return to Russia after going to Montenegro on holiday in June 2017 with his wife and three children, the paper added.

NBC reported that he was living under his real name in the Washington DC area or in Virginia, under U.S. government protection.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press conference that Smolenkov did work for the Russian government, but was not a senior official and had been dismissed a few years ago.

Peskov described the reported extraction as "pulp fiction" and asked whether the Kremlin was concerned about Russian counter-intelligence. He said: "Russian counter intelligence is working fine," Reuters reported

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the CNN report itself "has the potential to put lives in danger."
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

CNBC
A counterterrorism analyst for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he leaked top secret and other classified information — including details of a foreign country’s weapons systems — to two reporters in 2018 and this year.

The worker, Henry Kyle Frese, 30, held top-secret clearance at the DIA, where he began as a contractor in January 2017, and eventually became a full-time employee.

One of the journalists who allegedly received secret information from Frese had apparently been involved in a romantic relationship with him, authorities said.

That reporter ended up writing at least eight articles based on at least five compromised intelligence reports leaked by Frese, according to a criminal indictment. Frese retweeted a link to the first article that reporter wrote based on information he had allegedly leaked to her, the indictment says.
...
An indictment alleges that Frese accessed classified intelligence reports, some which were not connected to his job duties, in spring 2018 and provided top-secret information about another country’s weapons systems to a journalist who lived at the same Alexandria, Virginia, residential address as Frese.
...
The indictment against Frese says that on Sept. 24, 2019, surveillance of Frese caught him on a cellphone call transmitting national defense information to the second reporter.
Nice to see the honey trap would still work.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

War is Boring
The historians of the Central Intelligence agency have identified a fourth man who betrayed the United States at the tail end of World War II, passing on atomic secrets to the Communists in the Soviet Union.

American electrical engineer Oscar Seborer now joins David Greenglass, Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall in the ranks of traitors who spied for the Red menace at the Los Alamos Laboratories, where the atom bomb was perfected.

The information was released following examination of recently declassified information from both the US and Russia.

Fearing he would eventually be found out, Seborer fled to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and did not return to the US for several decades.

Seborer died at the age of 93 in 2015.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

CNN
Two Chinese Embassy officials were "secretly expelled" by the US earlier this year after they entered a "sensitive" military base in Virginia, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing conversations with people with knowledge of the episode.

The Times said half a dozen people with knowledge of the expulsions said US officials believe "at least one of the Chinese officials, who were with their wives, was an intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover."
...
The newspaper said that the September incident occurred at a base near Norfolk, Virginia, that includes Special Operations forces. The Chinese officials and their spouses drove a car up to an entry checkpoint where a guard, "realizing they did not have permission to enter, told them to go through the gate, turn around and exit the base, which is common procedure in such situations," according to the Times. But the officials instead proceeded to drive further onto the base and were eventually stopped when fire trucks "blocked them," the newspaper said.

The Chinese officials said at the time "that they did not understand the guard's English instructions, and had simply gotten lost," the newspaper said, but US officials told the Times "they were skeptical that the intruders made an innocent error and dismissed the idea that their English was insufficient to understand the initial order to leave."

The Times, which noted it's unclear what the foreign officials were trying to do on the base, said some US officials said "they believed it was to test the security at the installation" and that had the Chinese officials "made it onto the base without being stopped, the embassy could have dispatched a more senior intelligence officer to enter the base, the theory goes."
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

War is Boring
A Chinese People’s Liberation Army lieutenant spied on the United States while doing “research” on a J-1 visa at a Massachusetts University.

Yanqing Ye, a PLA officer with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, was one of three individuals indicted with aiding China and hiding connections.

Others caught in the indictment include Dr. Charles Lieber, chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, and Chinese national Zaosong Zheng.

The three indictments -which may or may not be related- are reported to be part of China’s ongoing mission to siphon off of US technological achievements and scientific research.

According to Mass Live, Ye’s handler was a colonel in the PLA and professor at the National University of Defense Technology, a major military academy in China.

When Ye signed her visa documentation, she lied about being discharged from the military.
...
One of Ye’s missions was to research an American professor who focused on computer security, digital forensics and computer software engineering at the US Naval Postgraduate School in California.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

WaPo
For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret.

The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and, finally, silicon chips and software.

The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican.

But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company’s devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by $iljanus »

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:54 pm WaPo
For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret.

The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and, finally, silicon chips and software.

The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican.

But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company’s devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages.
This was a great read, drawing back the curtain just a bit on intelligence gathering. Can't help but admire the craftiness of the whole setup.
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
morlac
Posts: 3898
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:25 pm
Location: Just outside the ATL

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by morlac »

https://www.spymuseum.org/

Was my favorite part of our DC trip last year. I could have spent an entire day in there but we "rushed" through in a couple hours. Will visit it again on next trip with a little more time.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

NBC News
A Chinese woman living in the United States as a visiting researcher at Stanford University has been charged with lying about her ties to the Chinese military, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Song Chen, 38, is accused of obtaining a visa by material false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement.

She was arrested over the weekend and in federal custody Monday night, a spokesman for the office said. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday that will deal with detention issues.

Song is not accused of stealing or sending any materials to China, but she is accused of lying on visa forms in 2018 to apply to go to Stanford as a neurologist.
...
A criminal complaint says Song is employed by a Chinese air force hospital and maintained her affiliation after 2011. Investigators think she is part of a " civilian cadre," whose members are considered active duty military.

The case was sealed in online records Monday. A phone message to an attorney who represented her in court Monday was not immediately returned Monday evening.
...
FBI Director Chris Wray said at an event earlier this month that that nearly half of the FBI's 5,000 active counterintelligence cases relate to China.

In June, another Chinese national who is alleged to be an officer of the Chinese military was arrested in California on accusations that he lied on visa applications to come to the U.S. as a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, according to the Justice Department.

Xin Wang, who federal prosecutors say is a scientific researcher and officer with the PLA, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he attempted to leave for China.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

CNN
Senior US government officials said Friday that a Chinese scientist who had been hiding in the country's San Francisco consulate after accusations of visa fraud is now in US custody and also charged that Beijing has been using its diplomatic outposts to run an espionage network to steal intellectual property from US businesses, universities and research centers.

Tang Juan, a researcher who said she was focusing on biology, "was a fugitive from justice until last night," a senior Justice Department official said, but has now been charged in Sacramento. The circumstances of Tang's arrest were not clear, but she has not been charged with espionage.

US officials made the announcement just hours before Washington's deadline for Beijing to shutter its consulate in Houston, a move that triggered China to retaliate Friday by demanding the US close its consulate in Chengdu.
...
The activities in Houston "are a microcosm, we believe, of a broader network of individuals in more than 25 cities. That network is supported through the consulates here," the Justice Department official said. "Consulates have been giving individuals in that network guidance on how to evade [and] obstruct our investigation. And you can infer from that the ability to task that (a) network of associates nationwide."

The officials spoke a day after a speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that recast the US-China relationship in starkly competitive terms, telling an audience at the Nixon Library in California that "securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time and America is perfectly positioned to lead it."
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Max Peck
Posts: 13681
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Max Peck »

Mariam Thompson, love-struck US army linguist, jailed for 23 years
A US military linguist has been jailed for 23 years for passing classified information to a foreign national linked to the Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah.

Mariam Thompson, 62, admitted sharing the names of US informants in Iraq to a man she was romantically linked with.

She said she had been "desperate" for "someone to love me in my old age" and did not set out to harm anyone.
In court, prosecutors argued for a 30-year sentence given the "real threats" Thompson's leaks posed.

Thompson pleaded for leniency, telling the court she did not intend to hurt American soldiers or "do damage to our national security".

"I just wanted to have someone to love me in my old age, and because I was desperate for that love I forgot who I was for a short period of time," Thompson was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper.

District Judge John Bates gave her a shorter sentence of 23 years, saying it reflected the seriousness of the offences, but took into account she was a sympathetic individual.
I'm not sure I grok the "sympathetic individual" angle, but maybe that's just me.
"What? What? What?" -- The 14th Doctor

It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
User avatar
El Guapo
Posts: 41243
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm
Location: Boston

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by El Guapo »

Well I wouldn't agree to marry my wife unless she first produced a list of 12 U.S. intelligence informants first, so I do have some sympathy.
Black Lives Matter.
Freyland
Posts: 3041
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:03 pm

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Freyland »

Who would ever want to get involved with undercover work if they knew their identity could be bought with a bouquet of flowers? Ffs.
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

CNN
Following a year-long operation by undercover FBI agents, a Maryland couple has been arrested and charged with attempting to sell US nuclear secrets to another country in exchange for cryptocurrency.

US Navy nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe, who held a top-secret security clearance, and his wife Diana were arrested Saturday in West Virginia by the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service after the couple allegedly sold information concerning the design of nuclear-powered US warships "to a person they believed was a representative of a foreign power but was actually an undercover FBI agent," according to a Department of Justice statement.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Jaymann
Posts: 19317
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 7:13 pm
Location: California

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Jaymann »

Are you sure they weren't selling to Chekov?
Jaymann
]==(:::::::::::::>
Black Lives Matter
malchior
Posts: 24794
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by malchior »

The Washington Post piece has a lot more detail about the particulars. For example, we learn he wrote the original message in another language. The package was sent in April, 2020 but the FBI received it in December 2020. Whatever foreign power it was sat on it for sometime deciding what to do with it.
The court papers say that in December 2020, an FBI official received a package that had been sent to the foreign country containing U.S. Navy documents, a letter and instructions for how to conduct encrypted communications with the person offering the information.


The letter in the package said: “I apologize for this poor translation into your language. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax.”
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by $iljanus »

malchior wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:27 am The Washington Post piece has a lot more detail about the particulars. For example, we learn he wrote the original message in another language. The package was sent in April, 2020 but the FBI received it in December 2020. Whatever foreign power it was sat on it for sometime deciding what to do with it.
The court papers say that in December 2020, an FBI official received a package that had been sent to the foreign country containing U.S. Navy documents, a letter and instructions for how to conduct encrypted communications with the person offering the information.


The letter in the package said: “I apologize for this poor translation into your language. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax.”
I wonder which foreign country passed on this info… :think:
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by $iljanus »

More background on that spy couple and yet another example of how Ren Faires and Dungeons and Dragons will lead to no good…
In 2008, Jonathan began pursuing a second advanced degree, in nuclear engineering, at the well-regarded Colorado School of Mines, where a classmate recalled him as easygoing and an avid Dungeons & Dragons player.
She was a study in contradictions. A black belt in martial arts who loved knitting. A staunch feminist who attended Renaissance fairs in the archaic garb of peasant women.
Not exactly the spy couple in The Americans but it would have been funny to see that couple cultivating the above would be spies. :lol:

Philip, look what Centre sent us at the drop…(holds up a conical hat with a veil and a 20 sided die)

Roll for espionage attempt…FAIL
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
Pyperkub
Posts: 23583
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:07 pm
Location: NC- that's Northern California

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Pyperkub »

Probably ran a few Top Secret campaigns as well? :)
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!

Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
User avatar
$iljanus
Forum Moderator
Posts: 13676
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:46 pm
Location: New England...or under your bed

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by $iljanus »

Pyperkub wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:43 pm Probably ran a few Top Secret campaigns as well? :)
I remember that game! I also played Victory Game’s James Bond RPG. Fun times! (But I didn’t have the urge to actually commit espionage…)
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

SuperHiro wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:10 pm
yossar wrote:Is the new Fugees album supposed to be any good? I loved The Score, but the first single from the new one was kind of meh.
The Fugees have a new album? Probably will suck. Wyclef has been off making mediocre albums. Pras would rather be a DVD-movie star, and Lauryn Hill apparantly isn't interested.
Fugees rapper Pras found guilty of political conspiracy
A Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted Wednesday after a trial that included testimony ranging from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, then trying to squelch a Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition case on behalf of China under the Trump administration.

A jury in Washington, D.C., federal court found him guilty of all 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Freyland
Posts: 3041
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:03 pm

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Freyland »

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 7:18 pm
SuperHiro wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:10 pm
yossar wrote:Is the new Fugees album supposed to be any good? I loved The Score, but the first single from the new one was kind of meh.
The Fugees have a new album? Probably will suck. Wyclef has been off making mediocre albums. Pras would rather be a DVD-movie star, and Lauryn Hill apparantly isn't interested.
Fugees rapper Pras found guilty of political conspiracy
A Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted Wednesday after a trial that included testimony ranging from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, then trying to squelch a Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition case on behalf of China under the Trump administration.

A jury in Washington, D.C., federal court found him guilty of all 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
Amazing talent, being able to switch from Rap to Jailhouse Rock like that.
Sims 3 and signature unclear.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Robert Hanssen, former FBI agent convicted of spying for Russia, dead at 79
Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who was one of the most damaging spies in American history, was found dead in his prison cell Monday morning, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Hanssen, 79, was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He was serving a life sentence at the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Unagi
Posts: 26376
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Unagi »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:46 pm Robert Hanssen, former FBI agent convicted of spying for Russia, dead at 79
Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who was one of the most damaging spies in American history, was found dead in his prison cell Monday morning, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Hanssen, 79, was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He was serving a life sentence at the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado.
People are saying he was a patriot.

Just saying: People are saying...
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Anywhere from 10-25% of any population are stone idiots.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Unagi
Posts: 26376
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Unagi »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 9:04 pm Anywhere from 10-25% of any population are stone idiots.
Well sure, nearly half the population is below-average intelligence.
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Median, sure. Not necessarily mean or mode.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
Smoove_B
Posts: 54567
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 am
Location: Kaer Morhen

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Unagi wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 9:03 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:46 pm Robert Hanssen, former FBI agent convicted of spying for Russia, dead at 79
Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who was one of the most damaging spies in American history, was found dead in his prison cell Monday morning, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Hanssen, 79, was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He was serving a life sentence at the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado.
People are saying he was a patriot.

Just saying: People are saying...
FYI, you can watch the 2007 movie about Hanssen, streaming on HBO Max

Maybe next year, maybe no go
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: The Spy News Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Former New York police sergeant convicted of acting as Chinese agent in 'Fox Hunt' trial
A former New York City police sergeant was convicted on Tuesday by a Brooklyn jury of acting as an illegal Chinese agent by intimidating a U.S.-based fugitive to return to his homeland to face charges.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Michael McMahon, who became a private investigator after retiring from the police force, was hired to surveil New Jersey resident Xu Jin as part of a global repatriation campaign by Chinese law enforcement called "Operation Fox Hunt."
...
McMahon pleaded not guilty and argued he did not know he was working for China.

Jurors also convicted McMahon on a stalking charge, but found him not guilty of conspiring to act as a foreign agent, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Post Reply