Today, Gregory Allen Justice, 49, of Culver City,
California, pleaded guilty to federal charges of one count of attempting to
commit economic espionage and one count of attempting to violate the Arms
Export Control Act. The charges are related to Justice’s selling sensitive
satellite information to a person he believed to be an agent of a Russian
intelligence service. Justice was an engineer who worked for a cleared defense
contractor. Specifically, he worked on military and commercial satellite
programs.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney
General for National Security Dana J. Boente and Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra R.
Brown for the Central District of California.
According to a plea agreement filed in this case, Justice
stole proprietary trade secrets from his employer and provided them to a person
he believed to be a Russian agent – but who in fact was an undercover FBI
employee.
In addition to their proprietary nature, the documents
contained technical data covered by the U.S. Munitions List and therefore were
subject to controls restricting export from the U.S. under the International
Traffic in Arms Regulations.
In exchange for providing these materials during a series of
meeting between February and July of 2016, Justice sought and received
thousands of dollars in cash payments. During one meeting, Justice and the
undercover agent discussed developing a relationship like one depicted on the
television show “The Americans,” and during their final meeting, Justice
offered to take the undercover agent on a tour of his employer’s production
facilities where Justice said all military spacecraft were built, according to
the plea agreement.
Justice faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison. The
maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for
informational purposes. If convicted of any offense, the sentencing of the
defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing
Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Justice pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge George Wu,
who scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 18. Justice has been in
custody since his arrest in July 2016.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Air Force
Office of Special Investigations.
Attorneys from the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section of
the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the National Security Division’s
Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
Posts
