Had Attempted To Sell Space Secrets To Russia

A former Boeing Satellite Systems engineer living in Culver City, CA has pleaded guilty to attempted economic espionage and attempted violation of the Export Control Act after selling secret documents about the spacecraft he was helping to develop to persons he thought were Russian intelligence agents last year.

Fortunately for the United States, but unfortunately for 49-year-old Gregory Allen Justice, the documents were "sold" to an undercover FBI agent.

In a news release distributed at the time of Justice's arrest, the U.S. Justice Department said that Justice stole proprietary trade secret materials from his employer and provided them to a person whom he believed to be a representative of a foreign intelligence service, but who was in fact an FBI undercover agent.  In addition to their proprietary nature, the documents contained technical data covered by the U.S. Munitions List and therefore controlled for export from the United States under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, according to the allegations.  In exchange for providing these materials, Justice allegedly sought and received cash payments.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Ars Technica reports that in a statement on the plea agreement a Justice Department spokesman said that "During one meeting, Justice and the undercover agent discussed developing a relationship like one depicted on the television show 'The Americans.'" Before his arrest, Justice offered to take the person he thought was a Russian spy on a tour of the Boeing facility where "all military satellites were built."

The Los Angeles Times reported that among the evidence found in Justice's car were handwritten notes addressed to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Russian consulate in San Francisco in which he said he needed the money for his wife's growing medical bills. But he sent $21,000 in cash and several gifts purchased with the proceeds of the illegal sale to another woman identified only as "C.M." in the court documents.

FMI: www.justice.gov