A recently disclosed federal indictment alleges that a Maryland couple conspired to give the Russian government access to the personal medical records of US government and military personnel.
Anna Gabrielian, a Baltimore-based anesthesiologist, and her husband Jamie Lee Henry, a major and physician in the US Army, are accused of giving an FBI undercover agent acting as a Russian government official “individually identifiable health information,” which is protected by federal law.
According to the US Attorney’s office in the District of Maryland, Gabrielian and Henry were both detained on Thursday morning.
In August, after Gabrielian had contacted the Russian embassy to offer her and her husband’s aid to the Russian government many months earlier, the undercover agent, who pretended to be a representative of the Russian embassy, called her, according to the indictment.
AWN is making contact with the accused. Court records provide no listing of attorneys. An inquiry for comment has gone unanswered by the Justice Department.
According to the indictment, Gabrielian claimed during a meeting with the undercover agent in a Baltimore hotel that she was “driven by patriotism toward Russia” and wanted to help even if it meant risking jail time. She allegedly also informed the undercover agent that her husband could provide information on how the US military deploys hospitals during conflict and on the training given to the Ukrainian military. She allegedly also cautioned the agent that any information they obtained needed to be “massively important” due to the possibility of being discovered.
Henry claimed to have “looked considering volunteering to join the Russian Army once the conflict in Ukraine began” in a different meeting, but the indictment claims that he lacked the essential military experience. According to the indictment, Henry holds a security clearance at the “Secret” level.
According to the accusation, Gabrielian and Henry both recommended that they give the undercover agent medical information from US military personnel and their families from Fort Bragg, where Henry served as a staff internist, as well as from the Baltimore medical facility where Gabrielian worked.
According to the accusation, Henry gave the undercover agent the health records of a US Army officer, a Department of Defense employee, and the spouses of three Army veterans, two of whom have since passed away, during a meeting in August. The indictment claims that Gabrielian allegedly planned to give “the spouse of a government employee and military veteran” their medical records.
According to the indictment, Gabrielian also devised a plan for her, her husband, and their children to leave to Turkey and provided the undercover agent with a lie to cover up their interactions.
She allegedly told the undercover agent, “I don’t want to wind up in jail here with my kids being hostages over my head.
Gabrielian is accused of telling the undercover agent during a different encounter that her spouse is a “coward” and is concerned about breaking HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
In order to prepare, she also suggested that Henry read a book from the 1980s about the recruitment and training of Russian spies in the Soviet Union, according to the indictment.
Gabrielian allegedly said to the undercover agent about promoting the book, “Because it’s the mentality of sacrificing all and loyalty in you from day one. You didn’t just walk away from that.
According to the indictment, Henry informed the undercover agent that if the US started a conflict with Russia, “at that time, I’ll have some ethical concerns I have to go through.”