LOS ANGELES – Culver City’s Gregory Allen Justice, a former engineer on military and commercial satellite projects, has been struck by the grim hammer of justice after pleading guilty to federal charges of economic espionage and violating the Arms Export Control Act. The 49-year-old’s treachery could land him in federal prison for up to 35 years.
Justice, who moonlighted as a traitor in the shadows of his employer’s high-tech facilities, admitted to selling proprietary trade secrets to an individual he believed was a Russian intelligence agent—a deception that actually masked the true identity of an undercover FBI employee.
The documents Justice betrayed were not just any data; they contained technical specifications classified under the United States Munitions List. This made them subject to strict export controls, as dictated by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. For his treachery, Justice received thousands of dollars in cash payments during a series of meetings between February and July 2016.
According to court documents, the engineer even ventured into the realm of fictional espionage, suggesting to the undercover agent that they could develop a relationship akin to that seen on the television show ‘The Americans.’ His final act of betrayal was an offer to take the agent on a tour of his employer’s production facilities, where he claimed all military spacecraft were constructed.
In a plea agreement, Justice admitted to attempting to commit economic espionage and attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act. He appeared before United States District Judge George Wu, who set September 18 as the date for his sentencing hearing. Justice has been confined since his arrest in July last year.
The FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations have been piecing together this espionage puzzle, with prosecutors from the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section of the United States Attorney’s Office and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section leading the charge against Justice.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption|Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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