United States v. Mallory

343 F. Supp. 3d 570
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Mallory. Read the opinion of the Court — 337 F. Supp. 3d 621
District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided October 15, 2018·No. Criminal No. 1:17-CR-154·Published

Opinion

T.S. Ellis, III, United States District Judge

Following a four-day trial, a jury convicted defendant of the following four counts of the indictment:

Count 1: conspiracy to gather or deliver defense information to aid a foreign government in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(c) ;
Count 2: delivery of defense information to aid a foreign government in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(a) ;
Count 3: attempted delivery of defense information to aid a foreign government in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(a) ; and
Count 4: making material false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2).

Defendant then moved for judgment of acquittal pursuant to Rule 29, Fed. R. Crim. P., with respect to Counts 1, 2 and 3 on a variety of grounds.1 Following briefing, a Memorandum Opinion and Order dated July 26, 2018 issued, denying in part and granting in part defendant's Rule 29 motion. United States v. Mallory , 2018 WL 3587718 (E.D. Va. 2018) (" Mallory I "); United States v. Mallory , No. 1:17-cr-00154-TSE-1, Order, ECF No. 202, 2018 WL 3587718 (Jul. 26, 2018). Specifically, defendant's motion was granted with respect to Counts 2 and 3 on the ground that the government's evidence did not establish venue for those Counts, but the motion was denied in all other respects. The government then moved for reconsideration of the venue ruling, arguing that the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to establish venue for Counts 2 and 3. Following briefing and argument, a Memorandum Opinion and Order dated September 27, 2018 issued, denying the government's motion. United States v. Mallory , 337 F. Supp. 3d 621, 2018 WL 4658680 (E.D. Va. 2018) (" Mallory II "); United States v. Mallory , No. 1:17-cr-00154-TSE-1, Order, ECF No. 226, 337 F. Supp. 3d 621, 2018 WL 4658680 (Sept. 27, 2018).

Defendant's remaining post-trial motion2 seeks a new trial pursuant to *572Rule 33, Fed. R. Crim. P., with respect to Counts 1, 2 and 33 and judgment of acquittal pursuant to Rule 29, Fed. R. Crim. P., with respect to Count 4. Specifically, defendant argues that with respect to Counts 1, 2 and 3 the jury instructions incorrectly described the scienter requirement for those Counts. And defendant argues that with respect to Count 4 the government's trial evidence impermissibly amended the indictment. For the reasons that follow, this motion must be denied.

I.

The pertinent facts may be briefly stated as follows.4 Defendant is a former CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) operative and contractor. During defendant's service as a CIA and DIA operative and contractor, defendant held a top-secret clearance and had access to highly classified information and documents, some of which defendant took home with him when he left the service.

In February 2017, defendant made contact via Skype with Michael Yang, a citizen of the People's Republic of China ("the PRC") who defendant believed was an intelligence officer ("IO") for the PRC intelligence service. Defendant learned that Yang was interested in obtaining information on various subjects involving National Defense Information ("NDI"), including the United States' THAAD missile defense system and currency manipulation by the PRC.5 Following this Skype conversation, defendant and Yang arranged for defendant to travel to the PRC in March and April 2017 to meet in person. During the April 2017 trip, Yang provided defendant with a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, which defendant described as a covert communications device ("CovCom device"). This CovCom device included a custom application that allowed defendant to send encrypted communications to Yang through WeChat, a program that was loaded on the CovCom device.

On April 25, 2017, defendant visited a FedEx store at a location near his home in Leesburg, Virginia. During this trip, defendant handed a FedEx clerk nine stacks of documents, some of which defendant had retained from his period of service as a CIA and DIA operative and which contained NDI. Defendant directed the FedEx clerk to scan the documents onto an SD card, a digital storage device. After the scan was completed, defendant directed the FedEx clerk to shred the documents. Defendant then returned to his home in Leesburg and hid the SD card in a junk drawer in his closet.

Shortly before midnight on May 1, 2017 and just after midnight on May 2, 2017, defendant used the Covcom Device and the *573SD card to transmit to the PRC IO's two documents-a "Table of Contents," which described eight classified United States government documents, and "Document No. 1," which was labeled "S & T Targetting [sic ] in China." "Document No. 1" contained information drawn from a classified PowerPoint proposal that defendant had worked on relating to a human asset operation, which trial testimony showed included NDI. Yang acknowledged that he had received these documents. A few days later, on May 5, 2017 defendant completed the steps on the CovCom device necessary to transmit two additional documents containing NDI to Yang in the PRC. The evidence does not disclose whether Yang received the documents defendant attempted to send on May 5.

After completing these transmissions and attempted transmissions, defendant met with the CIA and FBI agents in Virginia on May 12, 2017 and May 24, 2017. In these meetings, defendant described some of his contacts with Yang. Defendant also showed the agents the CovCom device and demonstrated the device's operation.

During the May 24, 2017 meeting, the FBI questioned defendant about documents defendant had provided to PRC IO's.

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United States v. Mallory, 343 F. Supp. 3d 570 (E.D. Va. 2018).

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