Indictment says Sue Mi Terry acquired luxurious purses and dinners at Michelin-starred eating places in trade.
United States prosecutors have charged a former worker of the Central Intelligence Company (CIA) for allegedly working for South Korea in trade for luxurious items, in accordance with the US Division of Justice.
Sue Mi Terry, who labored for the US authorities from 2001 to 2011, handed on confidential info to South Korea’s authorities and lobbied on its behalf, in accordance with the indictment filed on Monday in a New York federal courtroom.
She allegedly started the “undercover agent” position in 2013, two years after she left US authorities employment, and continued it for a decade.
In trade, Terry was handled to meals at Michelin-starred eating places and purses and different gadgets price hundreds of {dollars}, the indictment mentioned. Her South Korean handlers secretly despatched $37,000 to a assume tank the place she labored for a public coverage programme on Korea, in accordance with the fees.
The indictment featured safety digital camera photographs of Terry assembly South Korean officers in Washington, DC, to be gifted gadgets from high-end shops. It mentioned these allegedly included a $3,450 Louis Vuitton purse, a $2,950 Bottega Veneta purse, a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, in addition to different gadgets.
The 31-page indictment mentioned she admitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that she served as a supply of data for South Korean intelligence, which included passing handwritten notes from an off-the-record June 2022 assembly she was at with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about authorities coverage on North Korea.
The indictment fees Terry with failing to register beneath the International Brokers Registration Act and conspiring to violate that legislation.
“Regardless of partaking in intensive actions for and on the path of South Korea’s authorities, Terry did not register as a overseas agent with the Justice Division as required,” the prosecutors mentioned.
‘Unfounded allegations’
Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, denied the fees, saying they have been “unfounded” and “distort” the work she did as an impartial scholar and analyst.
“In reality, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean authorities throughout instances this indictment alleges that she was appearing on its behalf,” mentioned Wolosky. “As soon as the details are made clear will probably be evident the federal government made a major mistake.”
South Korea’s spy company, the Nationwide Intelligence Service, mentioned it was in touch with its US counterpart concerning the indictment.
In line with the indictment, Terry is a naturalised US citizen who was born within the South Korean capital, Seoul, and raised in Virginia and Hawaii.
In her time in authorities, Terry additionally labored because the deputy nationwide intelligence officer for East Asia on the Nationwide Intelligence Council, earlier than transferring on to assume tanks, together with the Council on International Relations.
The Council on International Relations put Terry on unpaid administrative go away, and can cooperate with any investigation, a spokesperson advised the Reuters information company.