A former high-ranking Treasury Department official, Natalie Edwards, 41, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Monday to conspiracy for leaking confidential banking reports linked to individuals associated with the Trump campaign. Judge Gregory H. Woods set sentencing for June 9. Edwards was arrested in October 2018 while carrying a flash drive containing sensitive documents.
While the conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years, Edwards’ plea deal with prosecutors suggests a potential prison sentence ranging from zero to six months, according to Fox News.
The leaked reports, known as Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), pertained to wire transfers made by figures involved in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. These figures included Paul Manafort, campaign official Richard Gates, Maria Butina, and the Russian Embassy.
At the time of her arrest, Edwards possessed a government-issued USB flash drive containing thousands of SARs, along with “highly sensitive material relating to Russia, Iran, and the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” according to prosecutors. They also noted that Edwards was not involved in any official Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) project related to these files.
“I am sorry for what I have done and I apologize to you, your honor, and the court,” Edwards stated.
Edwards’ arrest followed other leak-related prosecutions under the Trump administration, which had vowed to crack down on leakers, whom the president labeled as “traitors and cowards.” Prosecutors highlighted approximately a dozen related stories published by BuzzFeed News over the preceding year and a half. These included articles such as “GOP Operative Made ‘Suspicious’ Cash Withdrawals During Pursuit of Clinton Emails” and “These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus of the FBI Probe Into Paul Manafort.”
Charging documents revealed that Edwards transmitted the SARs to the reporter by photographing them and texting the photographs using an encrypted application. She later confessed to these actions. The FBI obtained a pen register and trap-and-trace order for Edwards’ cellphone during their investigation, Fox News reported.
Furthermore, Edwards also sent or described internal government emails, correspondence, investigative memos, and intelligence assessments published by her agency’s intelligence division to the BuzzFeed News reporter, prosecutors stated.
When questioned by the judge, Edwards admitted she knew she was committing a crime, acknowledging she was aware of the federal Whistleblower Protection Act but was “not allowed under the law to disclose it.”
After consulting with her lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, she admitted to agreeing to disclose the SARs. Agnifilo stated outside court that the case illustrated how “one’s subjective motivations really do not serve as a defense.” He suggested prosecutors believed her actions were “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 correctly by government agencies. “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 explained. Agnifilo added that Edwards had contacted congressional subcommittees and others in government but felt they were not adequately addressing the information she provided.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman stated in a release that Edwards violated the integrity of the suspicious activity report system, which relies on banks and other financial institutions to alert law enforcement to potentially illegal transactions. Justice will prevail.