BALTIMORE, MD—A Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist and her spouse, a Major and military doctor in the U.S. Army, have been indicted after allegedly conspiring to share sensitive medical data with Russia.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday returned an indictment charging Anna Gabrielian, 36, and her husband, Jamie Lee Henry, 39, both of Rockville, with conspiracy and for the disclosure of individually identifiable health information (“IIHI”), related to their efforts to assist Russia in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. The indictment was unsealed upon the arrest of the defendants.

Both are expected to have initial appearance on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

Gabrielian is an anesthesiologist and worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Henry, a Major in the United States Army, who held a Secret-level security clearance, is Gabrielian’s husband and a doctor. During the time of the alleged conspiracy, Henry worked as a staff internist stationed at Fort Bragg, the home of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, headquarters of the United States Army Special Operations Command, and the Womack Army Medical Center.

According to the eight-count indictment, Gabrielian and Henry conspired to provide confidential health information of Americans associated with the United States government and military to Russia. The indictment alleges that, beginning on August 17, 2022, Gabrielian and Henry conspired to provide IIHI related to patients at Hopkins and at Fort Bragg to an individual they believed to be working for the Russian government in order to demonstrate the level of Gabrielian’s and Henry’s access to IIHI of Americans; their willingness to provide IIHI to the Russian government; and the potential for the Russian government to gain insights into the medical conditions of individuals associated with the U.S. government and military in order to exploit this information.

Gabrielian and Henry met with an individual they believed to be associated with the Russian government, but who was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent, in order to convey to the agent their commitment to aid Russia, and to discuss ways in which they could help the Russian government. Gabrielian told the agent that she had previously reached out to the Russian embassy by email and phone, offering Russia her and her husband’s assistance. Gabrielian told the agent that, although Henry knew of Gabrielian’s interaction with the Russian Embassy, she never mentioned Henry’s name to the Russian Embassy. Gabrielian wanted to make sure Henry could deny any knowledge of her actions. On August 17, 2022, Gabrielian met with the agent at a hotel in Baltimore. During that meeting, Gabrielian told the agent 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 agent and stressed the need for “plausible deniability” in the event she was confronted by American authorities about meeting with the agent. Gabrielian also told the undercover agent that, as a military officer, Henry was currently a more important source for Russia than she was, because he had more helpful information, including how the U.S. military establishes an army hospital in war conditions and information about previous training provided by the U.S. military to Ukrainian military personnel. Gabrielian arranged to meet with the agent and Henry later that evening.

At about 8:10 p.m. that evening, the indictment alleges that Gabrielian and Henry met with the agent in the agents hotel room. During the meeting, Henry explained to the agent that he was committed 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” and he did not have any. 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.” Henry and Gabrielian allegedly offered to provide the agent with private medical records from the United States Army and Johna Hopkins in order to help the Russian government. During the same meeting, Gabrielian demanded that if she were put at significant risk of arrest, she wanted her and Henry’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.” Henry also indicated that he was concerned about passing a background check for his security clearance, telling the agent, “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.”

As detailed in the indictment, a few days later Gabrielian and the agent again met at the hotel in Baltimore to discuss providing Army medical records to the agent.  Gabrielian told the FBI agent that Henry was concerned about violating HIPAA, but Gabrielian had no such concerns. Gabrielian stated that she would check with Henry about providing medical records from Fort Bragg patients and get back in touch. The next day, Gabrielian sent a text message to the agent, using coded language, to advise that Henry would provide Army medical records to the agent. On August 31, 2022, Gabrielian and Henry allegedly met the agent at a hotel room in Gaithersburg. According to the indictment, Gabrielian provided the agent 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.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy, and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count of disclosing individually identifiable health information.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels