Ex-Treasury Democrat employee pleads guilty to leaking Trump team info, after dramatic bust with flash drive in hand

[That Sucking Sound]

In article <t24sfd$3cnd5$1...@news.freedyn.de>
thefag <the...@protonmail.com> wrote:

That is one ugly pig-eyed woman. Stupid too. Another Reality
Winner type.

<https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/
uploads/2020/01/1862/1048/NatalieMayflowerEdwards.jpg?ve=1&tl=1>

A former top Treasury Department official pleaded guilty Monday
to conspiracy for leaking confidential banking reports
associated with members of the Trump campaign, following her
dramatic arrest in October 2018 as she toted a flash drive full
of sensitive documents.

Natalie Edwards, 41, entered the plea in Manhattan federal
court, where U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods set sentencing
for June 9. Although the conspiracy charge carried a potential
penalty of up to five years in prison, Edwards signed a plea
deal with prosecutors that recommended a potential prison
sentence of zero to six months.

Edwards was a senior adviser at Treasury's Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN. Prosecutors said her
crime began in October 2017 and continued for a year, with
Edwards sending a BuzzFeed News reporter numerous Suspicious
Activity Reports (“SARs”). Banks must file SARs with the
Treasury Department when they spot transactions raising
questions about possible financial misconduct such as money
laundering, but federal law strictly limited their disclosure.

The SARs related to wire transfers made by Paul Manafort and
other figures in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
investigation, including campaign official Richard Gates, Maria
Butina and the Russian Embassy.

As law enforcement swooped in, she was carrying a government-
issued USB flash drive containing not only thousands of SARs,
but also "highly sensitive material relating to Russia, Iran,
and the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant," prosecutors said.

"Edwards is not known to be involved in any official FinCEN
project or task bearing these file titles or code names,"
prosecutors said at the time.

"I am sorry for what I have done and I apologize to you, your
honor, and the court," Edwards said.

Her arrest came on the heels of other high-profile, leak-related
prosecutions under the Trump administration, which had pledged
to go on the offensive against leakers whom the president has
called "traitors and cowards."

Prosecutors pointed to about a dozen related stories published
by BuzzFeed News over the past year-and-a-half, including an
article headlined, "GOP Operative Made 'Suspicious' Cash
Withdrawals During Pursuit of Clinton Emails."

Another article was titled, "These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus
of the FBI Probe Into Paul Manafort."

She transmitted the SARs to the reporter by "taking photographs
of them and texting the photographs" using an encrypted
application, according to charging documents, which showed that
Edwards eventually confessed to doing so. FBI agents obtained a
pen register and trap-and-trace order for Edwards' cellphone
during their investigation.

Edwards additionally sent or described to the BuzzFeed News
reporter internal government emails or correspondence related to
the reports and investigative memos and intelligence assessments
published by her agency's intelligence division, prosecutors
said.

When the judge asked her if she knew she was committing a crime,
Edwards said she did not "know of the regulation" at the time
but she knew about the federal Whistleblower Protection Act.

After consulting with her lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, she said she
admitted that she agreed to disclose the SARs.

She added: "I was not allowed under the law to disclose it."

Outside court, Agnifilo said the case illustrated how "one's
subjective motivations really do not serve as a defense."

"I am sorry for what I have done and I apologize to you, your
honor, and the court."

— Ex-Treasury official Natalie Edwards
He said prosecutors were "probably of the view that she was more
politically motivated than she was for some conception like the
good of our republic."

Agnifilo said his client believed "certain critical facts"
weren't being handled in the right way by the government
agencies tasked with handling them.

"She said: 'You know, if I can't trust government officials to
handle this, I think I can trust the media to handle this and to
bring this to the attention of the American people,'" the lawyer
said.

Agnifilo said Edwards was in contact with congressional
subcommittees and others in government but didn't believe they
were dealing adequately with the information she offered.

In a release, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Edwards
violated the integrity of the system of suspicious activity
reports relying on banks and other financial institutions
alerting law enforcement to potentially illegal transactions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/treasury-natalie-edwards-
leaking-trump-documents-guilty-plea