Treasury agent charged with leaking Russia probe information News
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Treasury agent charged with leaking Russia probe information

The US Justice Department on Tuesday filed two counts against Treasury Agent Natalie Mayflower Edwards for leaking information pertaining to Paul Manafort and the Russia Probe.

Edwards works for the FinCen unit of the Department of Treasury. FinCen’s mission statement is to “safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.” Edwards is charged with the release of unauthorized suspicious activity reports to the media pertaining to Richard Gates and Paul Manafort.

Beginning in approximately October 2017, and lasting until the present, EDWARDS unlawfully disclosed numerous SARs to a reporter … the substance of which were published over the course of approximately 12 articles by a news organization for which Reporter-1 wrote … . The illegally disclosed SARs pertained to, among other things, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates, the Russian Embassy, Mariia Butina, and Prevezon Alexander. EDWARDS had access to each of the pertinent SARs and saved them – along with thousands of other files containing sensitive government information – to a flash drive provided to her by FinCEN.

Edwards is “charged with one count of unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports and one count of conspiracy to make unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports.” Each of the two charges carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.