Gregory Allen Justice, an engineer who worked for a cleared government contractor in California, was recently sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to commit economic espionage, attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act and violating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
Justice worked on a team building and testing U.S. military satellites with communication, navigational, and observational technology. As part of his job, he had access to trade secrets and other technical data related to areas such as satellite operations testing, firmware installed on satellites and anti-jamming technology.
After the Los Angeles Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened its investigation into Justice’s activities, a search of his vehicle revealed handwritten notes containing addresses for the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Russian Consulate in San Francisco.
In February 2016, an FBI agent undercover as a Russian agent contacted Justice and eventually met with him six times. Justice provided the agent with information downloaded from his employer’s computer network for a total of $3,500 in cash.
Justice was arrested in July 2016 and pleaded guilty to his charges in May 2017.
“A special thanks goes to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California for its assistance during the case,” an FBI news release said. “Also playing a role in this matter was Justice’s employer—a cleared government contractor that already had a relationship with the FBI through its Counterintelligence Strategic Partnership Program.”