Doc Couple Tried to Slip Americans' Health Info to Russia, DOJ Says

A pair of physician spouses are facing federal charges of conspiracy and handing over confidential health information of Americans in order to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Anna Gabrielian, MD, and her spouse, Jamie Lee Henry, MD, both of Rockville, Maryland, were charged earlier this week for alleged interactions with a purported Russian representative, during which they offered up important and identifiable information pertaining to patients of their respective facilities.

Gabrielian, an anesthesiologist, has been on staff at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore since 2019, but is now on leave, a spokesperson for the institution confirmed to MedPage Today. Her spouse, Henry, is a Major in the U.S. Army who held secret-level security clearance and worked as a staff internist stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the time of the alleged offenses, the DOJ said.

The plot was allegedly aimed at demonstrating the physicians' level of access to individually identifiable health information of Americans, their willingness to provide that information to the Russian government, and the potential for the Russian government to gain insights into the medical conditions of individuals associated with the U.S. government and military in order to exploit that information.

Specifically, the federal indictment against the pair details that, on August 17, an FBI undercover agent, posing as a representative of the Russian Embassy, approached Gabrielian regarding assistance that the anesthesiologist had offered a couple of months previously.

Later that day, Gabrielian allegedly met with the FBI agent and announced her being motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance to the country she could, even if that meant being fired or going to jail, according to the indictment. The anesthesiologist is said to have offered her military spouse, Henry, as a more important source for Russia because of his knowledge on subjects such as how the U.S. military establishes an army hospital in war conditions.

On August 24, Gabrielian once again met with the undercover agent and shared her spouse's concerns about violating HIPAA by handing over records, according to the indictment. Gabrielian allegedly announced that she herself had no such concerns and violated HIPAA "all the time."

Ultimately, during another meeting on August 31, Gabrielian is alleged to have provided the undercover agent with exploitable health information about the spouse of a person currently employed by the Office of Naval Intelligence and related to a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. During the same meeting, the DOJ announcement said, Henry provided the undercover agent with information related to at least five individuals who were patients at Fort Bragg, including a retired Army officer and a current Department of Defense employee.

If convicted, Gabrielian and Henry face a maximum sentence of 5 years in federal prison for the conspiracy, and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count of disclosing individually identifiable health information, the DOJ said.

Notably, though Henry was referred to as "he" and Gabrielian's "husband" throughout the indictment, the military doctor had garnered media coverage for becoming the first known active-duty Army officer to come out as transgender in 2015.

Neither legal counsel for Gabrielian nor Henry immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the federal charges.

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