Maj. Jamie Lee Henry and Dr. Anna Gabrielian
A 36-year-old Maryland doctor and her 39-year-old U.S. Army major spouse were arrested for allegedly attempting to give the Russian government confidential medical information about members of the U.S. military and government.
A federal grand jury returned indictments charging Dr. Anna Gabrielian and Maj. Jamie Lee Henry with conspiracy and wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information (IIHI), the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Gabrielian and Henry beginning on Aug. 17 attempted to provide patient information from their respective workplaces to a purported Russian agent in an effort to aid Russian forces in their ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
During the time of the alleged conspiracy, Gabrielian was an anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Henry, who is also a doctor, worked as a staff internist stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, which is the headquarters of the United States Army Special Operations Command, and the Womack Army Medical Center.
Henry made national headlines in 2015 when she became the first known active-duty Army officer to come out as transgender.
The indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, states that defendants met with an individual they believed to be an agent of the Russian government, but who was actually an undercover agent (“UC”) with the FBI. The purpose of the meeting was to “convey to the UC their commitment to aid Russia, and to discuss ways in which they could help the Russian government,” the press release said.
“On August 17, 2022, Gabrielian met with the UC at a hotel in Baltimore. During that meeting, Gabrielian told the UC 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. Gabrielian proposed potential cover stories for meeting the UC and stressed the need for ‘plausible deniability’ in the event she was confronted by American authorities about meeting with the UC,” the release states. “Gabrielian also told the UC that, as a military officer, Henry was currently a more important source for Russia than she was.”
That’s because Henry “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,” as the press release put it.
Gabrielian subsequently arranged a meeting between the UC and Henry for later that same evening, prosecutors said.
The couple at approximately 8:10 p.m. allegedly met with the UC in a hotel room.
“During the meeting, Henry explained to the UC,” the feds alleged, the major expressed a commitment 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.'”
“Henry further 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,'” the press release continued.
Prosecutors say the couple then offered to “provide the UC with private medical records” to help the Russian government.
Gabrielian allegedly further demanded that if she were at risk of being arrested, the UC was to get her and Henry’s children on “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.” Acknowledging concerns about a possible background check, Henry allegedly told the UC, “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.”
Gabrielian a few days later met with the UC again and allegedly said she had no concerns about violating HIPAA. She later told the UC that Henry “would provide Army medical records to the UC,” per the release.
“On August 31, 2022, Gabrielian and Henry allegedly met the UC at a hotel room in Gaithersburg, Maryland,” according to the DOJ. “Gabrielian provided the UC 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.”
Read the indictment below:
[images via U.S. Army and Linkedin]
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