As previously reported, State Department contractor stole thousands of pages of “TOP SECRET” classified documents and met with Beijing officials.
Ashley Tellis, an expert on India and South Asian affairs, removed the top secret documents from secure locations and met with Chinese officials.
The classified documents were located in Tellis’s Virginia home during a raid.
“On Sept. 25, he allegedly printed U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft capabilities. Federal prosecutors allege that he met with Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years,” Fox News reported.
Prosecutors said in September 2022 that Tellis brought a manila envelope with him when he met with Chinese officials in a Virginia restaurant.
Tellis has been in jail since October 11.
He was charged with one count of retaining national defense information.
Tellis’ attorneys insist their client did not disclose any classified information to a foreign government and claimed government investigators are interpreting his “routine professional duties” as something sinister.
“Regrettably, investigators appeared to interpret his routine professional duties, such as liaison work and international travel, as clandestine activity, reading something sinister into what were standard think-tank and scholarly foreign policy engagements,” Tellis’ attorneys wrote in a court filing, according to The Washington Post.
Newly sworn in US Attorney Lindsey Halligan charged Tellis.
Hellbound and Down 