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| July 9, 2010: All 10 of the accused Russian spies held in the United States pleaded guilty yesterday, Thursday, July 8, 2010, at a hearing in Manhattan, a key step in a reported deal under negotiation with Russia for the largest swap of espionage detainees since the Cold War, according to The Washington Post. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz said at the start of the hearing in federal court that the 10 defendants wanted to enter guilty pleas. An 11th person indicted in the case is a fugitive. Prosecutors agreed to allow the 10 to plead guilty to one charge each of secretly conspiring to act as agents of the Russian government, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of five years. Nine of the 11 defendants in the case were also originally charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Earlier, a source familiar with the case said the defendants could be sent to Russia as early as Thursday, July 8, apparently as part of a prisoner exchange involving a prominent Russian scientist, and possibly others, held in Russia on charges of spying for the West. Administration sources said the Russian government would release four people in the swap with the United States, the Associated Press reported. The sources would not disclose the names of those being released by Russia. Prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed on a sentence of time served for those who pleaded guilty, sources said. The federal judge in the case, Kimba M. Wood of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, would have to accept that sentence. In entering their guilty pleas, five of the 10 revealed their real Russian names publicly for the first time. The couple known as Richard and Cynthia Murphy gave their names to the court as Vladimir and Lydia Guryev, and the couple who called themselves Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley said their real names were Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova. The defendant known as Juan Lazaro said he was Mikhail Anatonoljevich Vasenkov. A U.S. official confirmed on Wednesday, July 7, 2010, that talks between the two governments on a swap began last week shortly after the June 27, 2010, arrest of the suspects by the Justice Department's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The diplomatic discussions depended on lawyers reaching a plea arrangement in federal court in New York. Three arrested in Northern Virginia and two arrested in the Boston area were transferred to New York on Wednesday, July 7, joining the five others. In Moscow, an attorney for Igor Sutyagin, a Russian arms researcher who has spent 11 years in prison on espionage charges, said her client was unexpectedly brought to the capital from a remote penal colony and told that he was being included in the exchange. Sutyagin, who has maintained his innocence, was also issued a passport. |
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