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Rockville residents Anna Gabrielian, 36, and Jamie Lee Henry, 39, have been charged by a federal grand jury with conspiracy for the alleged disclosure of individually identifiable health information (IIHI), authorities announced on Thursday, Sept. 29.
Prosecutors noted that Gabrielian is an anesthesiologist working in Maryland, and Henry is a major in the US Army who held Secret-level security clearance.
Henry is also the first openly transgender Army officer to be indicted for selling medical information to Russia, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
During the time of the alleged conspiracy, Henry worked as a staff internist stationed at Fort Bragg, the home of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, headquarters of the US Army Special Operations Command, and the Womack Army Medical Center.
US Attorney Erek Barron said that the eight-count indictment charges the pair with conspiring "to the United States by providing confidential health information of Americans associated with the United States government and military to Russia.”
Specifically, the indictment alleges that beginning on Wednesday, Aug. 17, Gabrielian and Henry conspired to provide IIHI related to patients at the former's medical practice and at Fort Bragg to an individual they believed to be working for the Russian government.
The conspiracy was put in motion in order to demonstrate the “level of Gabrielian’s and Henry’s access to IIHI of Americans; their willingness to provide IIHI to the Russian government; and the potential for the Russian government to gain insights into the medical conditions of individuals associated with the United States government and military in order to exploit this information,” according to prosecutors.
It is alleged that the two met with a person they believed had ties to the Russian government, who was in fact, an undercover FBI agent. During those meetings, Gabrielian and Henry sought to convey their commitment to Russia and to discuss ways they could help the government.
Prosecutors said that Gabrielian advised the undercover officer that she had previously reached out to the Russian embassy to offer her husband’s assistance. She stated that “although Henry knew of Gabrielian’s interaction with the Russian Embassy, she never mentioned Henry’s name to the Russian Embassy,” in an effort to provide him with probable deniability.
“During (the Aug. 17) meeting, Gabrielian told the FBI agent 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 the DOJ.
“Gabrielian proposed potential cover stories for meeting the undercover officer and stressed the need for ‘plausible deniability in the event she was confronted by American authorities about meeting with the agent.
Gabrielian also told the agent that, as a military officer, Henry was currently a more important source for Russia than she was, because he had more helpful information, including how the United States military establishes an army hospital in war conditions and information about previous training provided by the United States military to Ukrainian military personnel, officials said.
That night, all three met in a Baltimore hotel room, where Henry “explained to the undercover that 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,' which he did not."
Henry also stated, “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.”
During that meeting, Henry and Gabrielian allegedly offered to provide the FBI agent with private medical records from the US Army. Gabrielian also allegedly made a contingency plan in case federal officials came down on her.
“Gabrielian demanded that if she were put at significant risk of arrest, she wanted her and Henry’s children to, ‘have a nice flight to Turkey to go on vacation because I don’t want to end in jail here with my kids being hostages over my head,’ according to prosecutors.
“Henry also indicated that he was concerned about passing a background check for his security clearance, telling the undercover, ‘I don’t want to know your name . . . because I want plausible deniability too. In a security clearance situation, they want to know names and people and all this stuff.’”
It is further alleged that days later, Gabrielian met with the agent at the same Baltimore hotel to discuss sharing Army medical records, in violation of HIPAA. She later sent a coded message to the undercover advising that Henry would provide medical records.
According to the indictment, Gabrielian provided the officer with IIHI related to two individuals, including the spouse of an employee of the Office of Naval Intelligence, whom Gabrielian pointed out had a medical condition Russia could “exploit.”
Henry also allegedly provided IIHI related to five individuals who were military veterans or related to military veterans.
If they are convicted, both face up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy, and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count of disclosing IIHI.
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