Treasury Employee Arrested for Leaking Financial Info on Trump Team to BuzzFeed
“dramatic arrest late Tuesday came on the heels of other high-profile, leak-related prosecutions under the Trump administration”
Another government worker has been arrested for leaking sensitive information to the media. Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a senior employee at the Treasury, allegedly leaked financial documents about people investigated by the Mueller probe to BuzzFeed.
Matt Naham reports at Law & Crime:
Our First Look at the Senior U.S. Treasury Official Accused of Leaking Confidential Bank Records to the Press
We now have our first look at the senior advisor at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) who has been arrested and charged for the unauthorized leak of confidential bank records to a BuzzFeed reporter.
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, 40, is pictured above in her mugshot down at the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.
According to the Washington Post, Edwards has already been released on $100,000 bond and will be expected to appear for a Nov. 2 court date in the Southern District of New York. Edwards has been barred from speaking to reporters or FinCEN officials, and it’s not hard to see why given the charges against her.
Edwards is accused of disclosing “suspicious activity reports” (SARs) related to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Manafort associate Rick Gates to a BuzzFeed reporter, starting in Oct. 2017. The laws on SARs and what employees may and may not do with them is abundantly clear.
According to Gregg Re of FOX News, Edwards was arrested with a flash drive in her hand:
Treasury employee charged with leaking financial info on Trump team was arrested with flash drive in hand, prosecutors say
The top Treasury Department employee who was charged Wednesday with leaking confidential financial documents pertaining to former Trump officials was apprehended the previous evening with a flash drive containing the allegedly pilfered information in her hand, prosecutors said in court papers.
The dramatic arrest late Tuesday came on the heels of other high-profile, leak-related prosecutions under the Trump administration, which has pledged to go on the offensive against leakers that the president has called “traitors and cowards.”
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, 40, a senior official at the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), is accused of illegally giving a reporter bank reports documenting several suspicious financial transactions, known as Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”), from October 2017 to the present.
The financial transactions involved Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, campaign official Richard Gates, accused Russian agent Maria Butina and the Russian Embassy, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Sounds awful, right? It gets worse:
The flash drive contained not only SARs, but also “highly sensitive material relating to Russia, Iran, and the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” prosecutors said.
Sean Davis of The Federalist has been following this case closely on Twitter:
The woman arrested for criminally leaking confidential bank information on Trump associates isn’t the only leaker. The DOJ complaint notes that HER BOSS at FinCEN is a criminal co-conspirator. There are only six positions at FinCEN with that title (associate director). pic.twitter.com/KadGyWrkz4
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 17, 2018
FBI affidavit: “I have learned that [co-conspirator 1] is an Associate Director of FinCEN to whom NATALIE MAYFLOWER SOURS EDWARDS, the defendant, reports.” That Treasury official exchanged 301 messages with Jason Leopold, the BuzzFeed reporter publishing their illegal leaks.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 17, 2018
It sure is strange how incurious blue checkmark firefighters are about which top Treasury official was illegally leaking confidential financial information to reporters. It reminds one of the dog that didn’t bark in the night. https://t.co/PE9naSk6Iz
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 17, 2018
Treasury’s FinCEN refuses to disclose which division its alleged leaker works in, or which of the agency’s six associate directors (AD) has been pegged by DOJ/FBI as one of her co-conspirators. One of FinCEN’s ADs, Thomas Ott, worked for Fusion GPS collaborator Bruce Ohr at DOJ. pic.twitter.com/An2C2URoqX
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 17, 2018
Given FinCEN’s ongoing role in the Mueller probe, the public deserves to immediately know which of its top staff, per DOJ’s own charging documents, are involved in an ongoing criminal leaking conspiracy against targets of that probe. No more cover-ups. https://t.co/CxLWAQSV6k
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 18, 2018
CBS News has the potential penalties Edwards faces:
According to the criminal complaint, Edwards admitted to the FBI agents who interviewed her that she was a “whistleblower” but that she only gave the journalist the reports for the purpose of “recordkeeping.” Prosecutors allege Edwards saved the sensitive reports on a flash drive and sent photos of the documents to the reporter over an encrypted app. They add that she was in possession of the flash drive when she was arrested, and her cellphone contained her communications with the reporter.
Edwards is charged with one count of unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports and one count of conspiracy to make unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports, both of which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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Comments
She’s not a whistleblower. A whistleblower would go to Mueller, but he already had access to all of this stuff.
What about her boss – the co-conspirator? Is that person skating? Or, are they testifying on someone else?
As an investment professional who has had to stay current on Patriot Act money laundering laws, the only option that I have should I stumble upon suspicious activity is to report it to my superior/compliance officer for further action. Depending on further review, it is either resolved or kicked up to higher channels until action is taken.
It is very disturbing that at the very top of the process are crooks like her. This is even worse than being forced to be diligent on my very minor end of the money laundering food chain while the biggest money launderers, like the NAR are exempted from the Patriot Act.
Do people understand how much time we waste in my business complying with these laws? And it ends up being weaponized for partisan political purposes by the top people?
Every bit of information we provide to the government, the banks, the social network companies turns into a political weapon these days. Personally, I think we could handle a little less “efficiency” from this new technology.
If people start going to jail some of this criminal leaking might stop.
The depth of these government workers going into criminal acts all because Hillary lost is sickening.
This helps show why the government should shrink, far too many of these people, and they can be tough to root out because of having the cover of a crowded field to deal with.
Another note… I know mug shots don’t show you in the best light, but man, she got hit with the ugly stick. I am convinced that when you are ugly, duplicitous, inside, it harms your outward appearance over time.
This explains why many leftists look so fugly.
Stress and genetics have a great deal to do with looks. I think you should convince yourself otherwise…good people have stress, too.
yes, but a smile and a happy, hopeful outlook on life go a long way to negate the effects of genetics and stress. One of the most beautiful women in my church has the happiest smile and most welcoming spirit. But if you look at just her looks objectively, she probably is not that beautiful. And she has not had a care-free life.
Liberals have neither hope nor happiness. Everything is about what is wrong. It shows in their countenances. It just does.
I always thought that dating sites like Match.com should allow a profile pic that only includes the eyes. IMHO, people reveal about 90% of their soul through their eyes, the rest is literally window dressing. As Springsteen put it so well, “Barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you gotta look hard.”
What always astounded me when I messed around on Match, years ago, is how many women’s main profile pics (not sure if men do this, too) featured them wearing sunglasses. I mean, common sense would seem to suggest that, if you’re going to put up an online dating profile, people are going to want to see your full face, unobstructed by sunglasses, or, hats, or, whatever. Just Dating Profile 101. But, beyond such photos evincing a profound lack of common sense and etiquette, I always believed that hiding behind sunglasses in such a context evinces transparent insecurity — the eyes representing the “gateway to the soul,” and all that.
And here I met my wife on-line in the mid 90’s as a penpal. We wrote for months and came to love each other long before we exchanged photos. Our initial communication was spiritual in nature as we learned about our common faith; then our interests and personalities were explored until finally we exchanged photos and began talking by phone. Finally meeting F2F 6 months into our relationship.
Of course, there’s hell to pay every time I caution someone about using the internet.
Why would she need a copy of the information already transmitted? When did Buzzfeed receive the info?
Great. Now how about Dianne Feinstein and Hillary Clinton?
I do think that leakers should be prosecuted, but I am disgusted that it’s only ever the low-hanging fruit that gets picked for crushing. The “important” people are always protected. More of the Washington elite’s obsession with “too to big to fail,” I gues..
She must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
No deals whatsoever should be offered to her.
$100k bail and released to her parents? Pul-eeze.
What she did was much worse than anything Manafort did, and he’s been in the hoosegow for months.
Once again, the court makes a mockery of equal justice.
And when is her boss/co-conspirator going to be indicted and identified?
Sound of crickets.
Wonder who’s going to watch her 9 cats while she’s in jail.
The laws on SARs and what employees may and may not do with them is abundantly clear.
So are the laws about handling classified material. Hillary, Huma, and the rest of the gang don’t seem much bothered by that.
. . . was apprehended the previous evening with a flash drive containing the allegedly pilfered information in her hand
Unfortunately this sounds like an FBI-style plant. Which doesn’t mean she’s not guilty, but it does give her defense a strategy to get her off.
“Miss Makem, call on me. I know the answer. Call on me. I know, I know. Please, please, please. I know, I know.”
“Okay, Frank, what’s the answer?”
“She’s a Democrat.”
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards
In a couple generations , these libs will have 14 names
SDNY? Aren’t they Mueller’s pals? What are the odds that this case will be disappeared and buried?
Oops. That wasn’t intended as a reply.
Judging from her size, she is entitled to four names.
Is she a native American too?
This isn’t the end of the thread, as Sean Davis alludes to. In the end, I’d bet we find this is connected to Fusion GPS and the other criminal conspirators at DoJ/FBI.
Still spying.
re: spying
Watergate was a minor leak compared to Water Closet, which is still overflowing and defiling it surroundings.
Here is what is so troubling about this. Here we have a government official leaking “damaging” information which is then disseminated, out of context, to injure a political opponent, the POTUS, a duly elected member of the government who is also her BOSS. Pretty bad. and a good thing that she was identified and charged. But, in the last two and a half years, we have seen hundreds of illegal leaks of government documents and information from the intelligence community, the DOJ, the FBI, Treasury, State, Congress and even the Obama WH as well as an orchestrated plot to use official government resources to illegally spy on a Presidential campaign and so far we have four, FOUR, people who face criminal charges for these activities. Two lower level functionaries, one high level FBI executive and one Congressional aide. And, so far, the charges are largely restricted to lying to investigators. It is truly amazing that the premier law enforcement agency in the country seems to be incapable of identifying and charging more than four people while hundreds of leaks and other glaringly obvious illegal activities have produced NO criminal charges.
Apparently this is the same woman complaining that there were “missing” files from databases. Perhaps there were, and she had the files on her thumb drive and had already deleted them from the databases herself? And, the fact she had information relevant to sanctions against not only Russia and Iran, but a pure terrorist organization in armed conflict against the United States. She was therefore in a wonderful, priceless position to financially assist America’s rivals and enemies.
Who was she working for? How many sides did she work for? Who was she giving… or selling… information to?
SARs, along with most other financial info, are strictly confidential and loaded with NPI (nonpublic information).
When someone charged with guarding and investigating such information is caught violating every guideline governing such info, you have a major problem festering in government.
This woman needs to be punished fully, and publicly, and her boss also needs to go to prison for a very long time.
We got Horseface, and now we got Pieface.
Peons fall for lesser sins of the untouchables.