A Culver City man named “Justice” who worked for a defense contractor pleaded guilty Monday to economic espionage and violating the Arms Export Control Act for selling sensitive satellite information to a person he believed to be a Russian spy.
Gregory Allen Justice, 49, who worked as an engineer on military and commercial satellite programs, could be sent to federal prison for as long as 35 years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to his plea agreement, Justice stole proprietary trade secrets from his employer — which was never publicly identified — and provided them to a person whom he believed to be a Russian spy — but who in fact was an undercover FBI agent.
In addition to their proprietary nature, the documents contained technical data covered by the U.S. Munitions List and therefore were subject to controls restricting export from the United States under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
In exchange for providing the materials during a series of meeting between February and July 2016, Justice sought and received thousands of dollars in cash payments, according to his plea agreement.
During one meeting, Justice and the undercover agent discussed developing a relationship like one depicted on the television show “The Americans.” And during their final meeting, Justice offered to take the undercover agent on a tour of his employer’s production facilities where Justice said all military spacecraft were built, the document states.
Justice pleaded guilty to one count each of attempting to commit economic espionage and attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge George Wu on Sept. 18.
Justice has been in federal custody since his arrest last July.
— City News Service