A US Army major and a Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist were indicted Thursday for allegedly conspiring to leak military medical records to Russia.
According to the federal indictment, married couple Jamie Lee Henry and Anna Gabrielian met with an individual they believed was working with the Russian government — but who actually was an undercover FBI agent — in order to demonstrate "their commitment to aid Russia, and to discuss ways in which they could help the Russian government." The couple sought to provide assistance to Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine, prosecutors said.
The Maryland couple allegedly conspired to provide military members' medical records — which Henry had access to as a doctor at the US Army's Fort Bragg with secret-level security clearance — to the Russian government, in order "to gain insights into the medical conditions of individuals associated with the U.S. government and military, to exploit this information," prosecutors said.
Henry made headlines in 2015 after coming out as the first openly trans active-duty Army officer, at the time using she/her pronouns. A spokesperson for the US attorney's office told BuzzFeed News on Thursday that Henry has used he/him pronouns during the course of the recent investigation. Henry's attorney declined to answer questions about pronouns, telling BuzzFeed News, "You can refer to my client as Jamie Henry."
Gabrielian was first approached by the undercover FBI agent months after allegedly contacting the Russian Embassy by phone and email to offer her and Henry's assistance. She told the agent that "although Henry knew she was reaching out to the Russian Embassy on both their behalf, Gabrielian had never mentioned Henry's name in her interactions with the Russian Embassy, and Henry could claim [to be] unaware of her actions if needed," the indictment said.
On Aug. 17, Gabrielian allegedly met with the undercover agent at a Baltimore hotel, where she said "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," the indictment said. Henry joined the meeting later that day and allegedly claimed to have looked into joining the Russian army after the country invaded Ukraine, but couldn't due to a lack of combat experience.
They are accused of giving the undercover agent medical records for at least five individuals who were patients at Fort Bragg, according to the indictment.
Details in the indictment indicate the two had some concern about what could come of their efforts. During the Aug. 17 meeting, Gabrielian allegedly told the undercover agent that if there was a risk of getting arrested, she wanted the couple'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.”
In a meeting a week later, Gabrielian allegedly called Henry a "coward" for being concerned that sharing the records would be a violation of HIPAA, the US law that protects sensitive medical information. According to the indictment, Gabrielian said she was unconcerned and violated HIPAA “all the time.”
Henry and Gabrielian have each been charged with one count of conspiracy and seven counts of disclosure of individually identifiable health information. They face up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and up to 10 years each for the disclosure charges.