Last Updated on September 30, 2022
The U.S. Army’s first openly transgender officer was indicted Tuesday on charges of attempting to provide American soldiers’ medical information to the Russian government.
A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted Jamie Lee Henry and his wife, Anna Gabrielian, on charges of conspiracy and wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information.
According to prosecutors, the couple met last month with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a Russian diplomat. Henry offered the undercover agent medical information from Fort Bragg, which houses the U.S. army’s elite Delta Force teams.
Gabrielian, an anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told the undercover agent during that “she was motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant being fired or going to jail,” the indictment alleges. During the August 17 meeting with the undercover agent, Gabrielian shared medical information on a spouse of someone who works in the Office of Naval Intelligence, and “highlighted” a medical issue that “Russia could exploit.”
Henry, a doctor at Fort Bragg, provided the agent with information on five patients at the military facility, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors also allege that Henry offered to join the Russian military after the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian military declined his offer due to lack of combat experience. In addition, Henry allegedly told the agent that he believed “the United States is using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia.”
Major Henry has previously received praise from corporate media outlets and leftist organizations after coming out as transgender in an interview with BuzzFeed News in 2015. He claims to be the first known Army officer to come out as transgender, as well as the first to change his legal name while serving.
“I find my trans experience has allowed me to relate to people, because all of us suffer, and I could relate to people’s suffering. I’m able to comfort people that feel isolated and lost and alone and broken,” Henry told Buzzfeed.