Femme fatale in eye of spy storm
Source: Agencies |
July 1, 2010, Thursday
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ANNA Chapman has been called the femme fatale of a spy case with Cold War-style intrigue - a striking redhead and self-styled entrepreneur who dabbled in real estate and mused on her Facebook page, "if you can dream, you can become it."
Chapman's American dream, US authorities say, was a ruse.
The 28-year-old Chapman, they say, was a savvy Russian secret agent who worked with a network of other operatives before an FBI undercover agent lured her into an elaborate trap at a coffee shop in lower Manhattan.
Though the US has branded the operatives as living covertly, at least in Chapman's case, she had taken care to brand herself publicly as a striver of the digital age, passionately embracing online social networking by posting information and images of herself for the world to see.
Prosecutors have charged Chapman and 10 other suspects with following orders by Russian intelligence to become "Americanized" enough to infiltrate "policy-making circles" and feed information back to Moscow.
Assistant US Attorney Michael Farbiarz has called evidence against Chapman "devastating." She is "someone who has extraordinary training, who is a sophisticated agent of Russia."
Chapman and nine others accused of being ring members were arrested across the northeastern US and charged with failing to register as foreign agents, a crime that is less serious than espionage and carries up to five years in prison. Some also face money laundering charges. An 11th suspect was arrested in Cyprus, accused of passing money to the other 10 over several years.
Prosecutors said several of the defendants were Russians living in the US under assumed names and posing as Canadian or American citizens. It was unclear how and where they were recruited, but court papers said the operation went as far back as the 1990s. Exactly what sort of information the agents are alleged to have provided to their Russian handlers - and how valuable it may have been - was not disclosed.
The FBI finally moved in to break up the ring because one of the suspects - apparently Chapman, who was bound for Moscow, according to court papers - was going to leave the country, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
At a court hearing on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, where Chapman was jailed without bail, her attorney called the case against her weak. He said she had visited the US on and off since 2005 before settling in Manhattan to start a business.
Chapman took an apartment a block from Wall Street and began using online social networks, including LinkedIn and Facebook, to develop business contacts and to market her skills.
Chapman's American dream, US authorities say, was a ruse.
The 28-year-old Chapman, they say, was a savvy Russian secret agent who worked with a network of other operatives before an FBI undercover agent lured her into an elaborate trap at a coffee shop in lower Manhattan.
Though the US has branded the operatives as living covertly, at least in Chapman's case, she had taken care to brand herself publicly as a striver of the digital age, passionately embracing online social networking by posting information and images of herself for the world to see.
Prosecutors have charged Chapman and 10 other suspects with following orders by Russian intelligence to become "Americanized" enough to infiltrate "policy-making circles" and feed information back to Moscow.
Assistant US Attorney Michael Farbiarz has called evidence against Chapman "devastating." She is "someone who has extraordinary training, who is a sophisticated agent of Russia."
Chapman and nine others accused of being ring members were arrested across the northeastern US and charged with failing to register as foreign agents, a crime that is less serious than espionage and carries up to five years in prison. Some also face money laundering charges. An 11th suspect was arrested in Cyprus, accused of passing money to the other 10 over several years.
Prosecutors said several of the defendants were Russians living in the US under assumed names and posing as Canadian or American citizens. It was unclear how and where they were recruited, but court papers said the operation went as far back as the 1990s. Exactly what sort of information the agents are alleged to have provided to their Russian handlers - and how valuable it may have been - was not disclosed.
The FBI finally moved in to break up the ring because one of the suspects - apparently Chapman, who was bound for Moscow, according to court papers - was going to leave the country, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
At a court hearing on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, where Chapman was jailed without bail, her attorney called the case against her weak. He said she had visited the US on and off since 2005 before settling in Manhattan to start a business.
Chapman took an apartment a block from Wall Street and began using online social networks, including LinkedIn and Facebook, to develop business contacts and to market her skills.
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