A Maryland anesthesiologist and her spouse, a major in the U.S. Army and a physician, were charged by indictment for allegedly providing confidential health information to an undercover FBI agent to assist Russia related to the conflict in Ukraine, the Justice Department announced Sept. 29.
The defendants — Anna Gabrielian, 36, and her spouse, Jamie Lee Henry, 39, both of Rockville, Md. — are accused of participating in a conspiracy that involved giving confidential medical records to an undercover FBI agent posing as a purported Russian representative. At the time of the alleged conspiracy, Dr. Henry was a staff internist stationed at Fort Bragg, an installation of the Army in North Carolina. Dr. Gabrielian worked at an unnamed medical institution in Baltimore.
While Dr. Henry came out as a transgender woman in 2015, the indictment refers to him as male, and a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore told NBC News he referred to himself as male in interactions with the FBI agent.
Prosecutors allege that the couple met multiple times with the purported Russian representative.
On Aug. 17, during a meeting with the undercover FBI agent at a hotel in Baltimore, Dr. Gabrielian said, "she was motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant being fired or going to jail," according to prosecutors.
That same day, Dr. Henry allegedly told the purported Russian representative "he was committed to assisting Russia and had looked into volunteering to join the Russian Army after the conflict in Ukraine began, but Russia wanted people with 'combat experience' and he did not have any."
Prosecutors also allege that Dr. Henry said, "the way I am viewing what is going on in Ukraine now, is that the United States is using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia." The couple allegedly offered to provide the undercover FBI agent with private medical records to assist Russia.
After further discussion, Dr. Gabrielian provided the purported Russian representative with medical information related to two individuals, including the spouse of an employee of the Office of Naval Intelligence, and Dr. Henry provided medical information related to five individuals who were military veterans or related to military veterans, prosecutors allege.
David Walsh-Little, an attorney for Dr. Henry, declined to comment to The New York Times on the charges. Teresa Whalen, an attorney for Dr. Gabrielian, did not immediately respond to an email and a phone message from the newspaper.
According to The Baltimore Sun, Maryland Board of Physicians shows the defendants' primary practices are at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Hospital.
"We were shocked to learn about this news this morning and intend to fully cooperate with investigators," Kim Hoppe, a spokesperson for Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in a statement to The New York Times.
Dr. Gabrielian and Dr. Henry were charged with conspiracy and for the disclosure of individually identifiable health information for each patient whose information they shared. If convicted, they face a maximum of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count of disclosing the health information.