Paul Whelan | |
---|---|
Born | Paul Nicholas Whelan [1] March 5, 1970 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
Citizenship |
|
Detainment | |
Country | Russia |
Detained | December 28, 2018 |
Conviction | Espionage |
Charge | 16 years in prison |
Time held | 5 years, 2 months and 28 days |
Paul Nicholas Whelan (born March 5, 1970) is a Canadian-born former United States Marine with U.S., British, Irish, and Canadian citizenship. [2] [3] He was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018, and accused of spying. On June 15, 2020, he received a 16-year prison sentence.
Whelan was born on March 5, 1970, [4] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, [5] to British parents with Irish heritage. [3] [6]
According to a deposition Whelan gave in 2013, he was in law enforcement from 1988 to 2000 as a police officer in Chelsea, Michigan, and a sheriff's deputy in Washtenaw County. [7] The Chelsea Police, however, said he worked in lesser roles and as a part-time officer from 1990 to 1996, while the Washtenaw County sheriff reported no record of his employment. [7] A former colleague said he was a patrol officer from 1998 to 2000 in the Keego Harbor police department. [7]
He was an IT manager for the Kelly Services staffing company from 2001 [8] to 2003, and then 2008 to 2010. From 2010 to 2016 Whelan was Kelly Services' senior manager of global security and operations. [8]
He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1994. [7] He took military leave from Kelly Services to serve with the Marine Corps Reserve from 2003 to 2008, including service in Iraq. He held the rank of staff sergeant with Marine Air Control Group 38 working as an administrative clerk and administrative chief, and he was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. [8] After a court-martial conviction in January 2008 on multiple counts "related to larceny", he was sentenced to 60 days restriction, reduction to pay grade E-4, and a bad conduct discharge. [9] [10] The specific charges against him included "attempted larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, wrongfully using another's social security number, and ten specifications of making and uttering [lower-alpha 1] checks without having sufficient funds in his account for payment." [12]
When arrested in Russia, Whelan was director of global security and investigations for BorgWarner, an international automotive parts manufacturer based in Michigan. [8] His work with Kelly Services and BorgWarner gave Whelan contacts with the U.S. intelligence community, federal agents and foreign embassies. [13]
Whelan traveled to Russia several times from 2006 and maintained an intermittent presence on a Russian-language social media website, VKontakte (VK), where he had approximately 70 contacts. He has studied Russian but communicated online using Google Translate. [3] [14] He said in a deposition in 2013 that he holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and an MBA degree. [15] He took courses at Northern Michigan University from fall 1988 to fall 1990 without earning a degree. [14]
On December 28, 2018, Whelan was arrested in the Moscow area by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), which later confirmed his arrest. [16] [17] [18] Whelan's twin brother David said Whelan arrived in Moscow on December 22 to attend the wedding of a former fellow Marine at the Hotel Metropol Moscow and to assist the groom's family members on their first visit to Russia, a country he had visited many times. He said his brother planned to return to Michigan on January 6, 2019, via Saint Petersburg. [19] David said his brother entered Russia using his U.S. passport [4] and had not been in contact with his family. [20]
The BBC cited family members of Whelan, who said Whelan previously bragged about knowing an agent of the FSB, and was privy to an unusual cache of personal details about his friend, including which intelligence training school he attended (biographical information typically reserved for a very close circle). [21] Whelan said the man was one of his oldest friends in Russia and that he had visited this man's house the winter before his arrest. Whelan also said he loaned his friend 80,000 Russian rubles ($1,147; £930), and claimed it was for the wedding. The FSB later said that the payment was for intelligence. [22]
According to Whelan, his long-time friend framed him by appearing unexpectedly in the hotel, followed by authorities, who later arrested him. [23] According to attorneys for Whelan, they could not provide the name of Whelan's Russian friend due to Russian secrecy rules, but Whelan's family identified the person as Ilya Yatsenko, whom the Russian newspaper Kommersant described as a major in the FSB's Department "K", which monitors Russian economic crimes. [24]
One Russian-language source, MBK News , an outlet run by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, gives a very different account from the BBC and from Whelan's family. This source claims Whelan had "$80,000" in cash—as opposed to 80,000 rubles, worth about a thousand US dollars—"temporarily confiscated" during a customs inspection at Domodedovo Airport. [25] There does not appear to be any source other than this single Russian-language one claiming Whelan had $80,000 as opposed to 80,000 rubles (and may be due to a confusion of currencies).
According to Whelan's brother David, this report in MBK is a defamatory lie. In an interview with the Ann Arbor Observer , David described MBK as a "horribly unreliable Russian news source" which falsely reported the 80,000 rubles as dollars. He stated: "Paul had gotten some money out to pay for the wedding caterer, since the groom, Paul's Marine friend, had not realized he'd have to pay cash for the restaurant." [26]
David Whelan said he has repeatedly "corrected the Wikipedia page, only to see the error [...] restored." According to David, such "repetition without verification or corroboration" is another "grotesque aspect of all this. Paul is unable to respond to these misstatements—lies?—and by the time he is freed, they will be widely accepted by people who care less for the truth than they do for 'winning' online, whether in a social media brawl or by creating clicks on their media platform. Paul will never be able to undo the damage." [26]
Whelan was formally charged on January 3, 2019. [20] According to the Russian news agency Rosbalt , Whelan was apprehended in his hotel room at the Metropol Hotel while concluding a long outing with a Russian citizen, who handed him a USB drive containing "a list of all the employees at a classified security agency". The independent Latvian-based publication Meduza reported that the wedding attendees all banded close together for the duration of the holiday, and were taken aback by Whelan's decision to spend the day alone. [27]
Whelan was held for trial in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison, [14] [lower-alpha 2] where as of March 2019, he shared a cell with another prisoner who spoke no English. [29]
Former CIA officers have stated that the CIA would not recruit an officer with Whelan's military record, nor leave an officer exposed without a diplomatic passport. [14] They further claim that Whelan's arrest is connected to tensions between Russia and the United States, including the detention of confessed unregistered foreign agent Maria Butina. [30] [31] On December 20, 2018, when discussing Butina's arrest, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia "will not arrest innocent people simply to exchange them". [1]
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman Jr. met with Whelan on January 2, 2019, while Whelan was in Russian custody. [32] He told Whelan's family that Paul was "in good health and good spirits", but that the family needed to supply all his incidental needs aside from basic foodstuffs. [4] [lower-alpha 3] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "We've made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he's been accused of and if the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return." [33] On January 4, 2019, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "We don't agree with individuals being used in diplomatic chess games... We are all extremely worried about him and his family." [20] As of January 4, British and Irish consular officials were seeking access to Whelan. [34]
On January 3, 2019, Whelan's attorney, Vladimir Zherebenko, [lower-alpha 4] said he was seeking his release on bail. He said a trial would not begin for at least six months, and that he would welcome an exchange of Whelan for Butina. [36] He said: "I presume that he is innocent because, for now, I haven't seen any evidence against him that would prove otherwise." [14] A few weeks later, Zherebenkov said Whelan had been unaware of the contents of the USB drive and believed it contained material solely of personal value such as "photographs, videos, anything at all, about his previous holiday in Russia." [37]
On January 5, 2019, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that on the day after Whelan's arrest the United States had detained a Russian citizen, Dmitry Makarenko, in the Northern Marianas and transported him to Florida to face charges of unauthorized export of defense equipment. [38] [lower-alpha 5]
On June 15, 2020, Whelan was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for espionage by a court in Moscow. [39] [40] His lawyers said they believed Russia would now seek a prisoner swap. Whelan said in court that the case was a sham to use him to influence the United States: "We have proven my innocence... we have proven fabrication. This is slimy, greasy corrupt Russian politics, nothing more, nothing less." [24] [41]
Whelan was initially held at the Correctional Colony No. 18 under supervision of the Russian Federation's Federal Penitentiary Service. [42] As of December 2020 [update] he was held in a high-security prison, IK-17, eight hours drive southeast of Moscow. [43]
Family members said Whelan had been told that he had been arrested to be exchanged for a Russian prisoner in the United States, mentioning Konstantin Yaroshenko (who was released in return for American Trevor Reed), Viktor Bout, or Roman Seleznev. [44] On July 27, 2022, it was announced that President Joe Biden had offered a trade for Whelan and WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was arrested in Russia in February on drug charges, in exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed "The Merchant of Death". [45] The Russian side insisted on the additional release of Vadim Krasikov, an assassin serving a life sentence for murder in Germany. [46] After negotiations, only Griner was exchanged for Bout on December 8, 2022, as the Kremlin had refused to release Whelan and posed an ultimatum to the Biden administration of freeing Griner or no one. [47]
Whelan's brother David Whelan approved of the decision to "make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn't going to happen." [48]
On May 4, 2023, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy visited Whelan in the remote Russian penal colony where he is held. [49] On August 16, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Whelan on the phone and told him to “keep the faith and we’re doing everything we can to bring you home as soon as possible." [50] On November 28, 2023, David Whelan discussed in an email to supporters that Paul had stated he was assaulted during his time at the camp; he was punched in the face by another inmate while working at a sewing table. Whelan's glasses were broken during the assault, which David speculated may have been motivated by "anti-American sentiment [which] is not uncommon among other prisoners." [51]
Whelan is a citizen of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. [52] [53] His twin brother David ascribed Paul's acquisition of the multiple nationalities to "probably a genealogical interest as much as anything." [4] [lower-alpha 6]
Whelan was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and raised partly in the Ann Arbor area of Michigan where he and his twin brother David graduated from Huron High School in 1988. [19] David said the family had not known Paul had a bad conduct discharge. [4] In addition to his twin brother, Paul Whelan has a brother, Andrew, and a sister, Elizabeth. [4]
Whelan lived in Novi, Michigan, prior to detainment in Russia. [54]
Viktor Anatolyevich Bout is a Tajik-born Russian arms dealer. A weapons manufacturer and former Soviet military translator, he used his multiple companies to smuggle arms from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s. Bout gained the nicknames the "Merchant of Death" and "Sanctions Buster" after British minister Peter Hain read a report to the United Nations in 2003 on Bout's wide-reaching operations, extensive clientele, and willingness to bypass embargoes.
Nicholas S. Daniloff is an American journalist who graduated from Harvard University and was most prominent in the 1980s for his reporting on the Soviet Union. He was briefly detained by Soviet security services on espionage charges, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
Lefortovo Prison is a prison in Moscow, Russia, which has been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Justice since 2005.
The Illegals Program was a network of Russian sleeper agents under unofficial cover. An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) culminated in the arrest of ten agents on June 27, 2010, and a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States on July 9, 2010.
Russian espionage in the United States has occurred since at least the Cold War, and likely well before. According to the United States government, by 2007 it had reached Cold War levels.
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner. He organised anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia and against President Vladimir Putin and his government. Navalny was founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
Amir Mirza Hekmati ; is a United States Marine veteran who was arrested in August 2011 for allegedly spying for the CIA in Iran. On January 9, 2012, he was sentenced to death for the charges. On March 5, 2012, the Iranian Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and ordered a retrial, saying the verdict against Hekmati was "not complete". On January 16, 2016, Hekmati was released and allowed to leave Iran as part of a prisoner trade between the U.S. and Iran. He returned to the United States on January 21, 2016. He sued the Government of Iran on May 11, 2016. He received a default judgment of $63 million on October 3, 2017. In November 2019 he sued the government for unpaid compensation. According to the assistant attorney general they are reconsidering if he is eligible.
This is a timeline of events related to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
Since Donald Trump was a 2016 candidate for the office of President of the United States, myriad suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials have been discovered by the FBI, Special counsel, and several United States congressional committees, as part of their investigations into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Following intelligence reports about the Russian interference, Trump and some of his campaign members, business partners, administration nominees, and family members were subjected to intense scrutiny to determine whether they had improper dealings during their contacts with Russian officials. Several people connected to the Trump campaign made false statements about those links and obstructed investigations. These investigations resulted in many criminal charges and indictments.
Paul Erickson is an American conservative political operative, lawyer, and businessperson. He has been involved in several Republican presidential campaigns. He has strong ties to the National Rifle Association and Russian interests and in 2017 was subject to federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. In November 2019, Erickson pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an effort to defraud investors in an oil development scheme. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in July 2020, but was granted a full pardon on January 19, 2021, Donald Trump's last full day in office as president of the United States.
Maria Valeryevna Butina is a Russian politician, political activist, journalist, and former entrepreneur who was convicted in 2018 of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia within the United States.
Zelimkhan Sultanovich Khangoshvili was an ethnic Chechen born in Georgia who was a former platoon commander for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as a volunteer during the Second Chechen War, and a Georgian military officer during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Later on, he allegedly turned into a useful source of information for the Georgian Intelligence Service by identifying Russian spies and jihadists operating on domestic and foreign soil to Georgian intelligence agents. Khangoshvili was considered a terrorist by the Government of the Russian Federation, the Federal Security Service, and wanted in Russia. On 23 August 2019, Khangoshvili was assassinated in Kleiner Tiergarten, a park in Berlin by FSB operative Vadim Krasikov.
Hostage diplomacy, also hostage-diplomacy, is the taking of hostages for diplomatic purposes.
Sergei Mikhailov was deputy head of the FSB security agency’s Center for Information Security. In February 2019, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for treason.
Kai Li is an American businessman who has been detained in China since 2016. The United States government considers Li to be wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Li's detention to be arbitrary.
Bring Our Families Home (BOFH) is a campaign by family members of American hostages and detainees advocating for their immediate release. The James Foley Legacy Foundation claims that there are approximately sixty Americans who are being held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. The Foley Foundation provides support to BOFH.
On December 8, 2022, Russia and the United States conducted a prisoner exchange, trading Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer. Griner, a WNBA champion star and Team USA Olympic athlete, had been convicted of smuggling and possession of cannabis in Russia earlier in 2022 and sentenced to nine years in prison. Bout had been arrested in Thailand in 2008 and transferred to the custody of the United States, where he was convicted of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012. The exchange took place at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, following months of negotiations.
Marc Hilliard Fogel is an American schoolteacher who was arrested in August 2021 by Russian authorities for trying to enter Russia with 0.6 ounces (17 g) of medical marijuana. In June 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War, in the time leading up to and after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a number of citizens of the Russian Federation and of other nationalities working for Russia have been identified publicly as spies or agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR) or the third intelligence arm, the military intelligence service (GRU). Each arm having their own remits.
Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist and reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Russia. He was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service on charges of espionage in March 2023, marking the first time a journalist working for an American outlet had been arrested on charges of spying in Russia since the Cold War. The White House and media advocacy groups have condemned the arrest.
He was sentenced to 60 days restriction, reduction to pay grade E-4, and, a bad-conduct discharge.