Jessica Aber, a Biden-appointed U.S. Legal professional who was discovered lifeless in her Virginia dwelling this previous weekend, was identified for spearheading high-profile investigations into CIA intelligence leaks, conflict crime allegations tied to people linked with Russia, and suspects concerned in transferring delicate U.S. expertise to Moscow.
Jessica Aber, 43, was found unresponsive on Saturday morning.
“This morning, at roughly 9:18 a.m., Alexandria Police responded to the 900 block of Beverley Drive for the report of an unresponsive lady. Officers situated a deceased lady. Following notification of members of the family, the Alexandria Police Division can affirm the identification of the lady as Ms. Jessica Aber, age 43, former U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of Virginia,” police mentioned.
APD Assertion relating to Beverley Drive Dying Investigation pic.twitter.com/86iNsUzQyO
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) March 22, 2025
Alexandria Police responded to a name about an unresponsive lady at Aber’s residence on Beverley Drive, Alexandria, Virginia.
Officers discovered her lifeless, and the division initiated an investigation as a matter of protocol, with the Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia tasked with figuring out the trigger and method of demise.
A household good friend informed CBS Information that her demise is believed to be the results of a longstanding medical subject, and two former senior Justice Division officers knowledgeable NBC Information that authorities have discovered no purpose to suspect foul play.
Learn extra:
New Update on Biden-Appointed US Attorney Found Dead in Her Virginia Home
Aber, who served because the U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of Virginia till her resignation in January.
The timing of Aber’s demise, simply two months after resigning and amid her involvement in delicate circumstances, has sparked dialogue.
Aber secured a responsible plea from ex-CIA analyst Asif Rahman, who endangered American lives by leaking top-secret paperwork detailing Israel’s deliberate strike on Iran. Aber rightly condemned Rahman’s betrayal as a “violation of his oath, his accountability, and the regulation,” emphasizing the grave dangers such leaks pose to U.S. overseas relations and intelligence operations.
DOJ wrote within the press release:
A former CIA analyst pleaded responsible at this time to retaining and transmitting High Secret Nationwide Protection Data to individuals who weren’t entitled to obtain it, info which was publicly posted on a social media platform in October 2024.
In keeping with courtroom paperwork, Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, was an worker of the CIA since 2016 and had a High-Secret safety clearance with entry to Delicate Compartmented Data (SCI).
[…]
“Asif Rahman is pleading responsible in federal courtroom three months to the day that he disclosed high secret American paperwork in violation of his oath, his accountability, and the regulation,” mentioned U.S. Legal professional Jessica D. Aber for the Japanese District of Virginia. “This District, in partnership with federal regulation enforcement and the intelligence neighborhood, exemplified dedication, ability, and velocity to convey him to justice expeditiously. Mr. Rahman’s actions positioned lives in danger, undermined U.S. overseas relations, and compromised our means to gather very important intelligence sooner or later.”
In keeping with courtroom paperwork, on Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman accessed and printed two High Secret paperwork containing Nationwide Protection Data relating to a U.S. overseas ally and its deliberate actions towards a overseas adversary. Rahman eliminated the paperwork, photographed them, and transmitted them to people he knew weren’t entitled to obtain them. By Oct. 18, 2024, the paperwork appeared publicly on a number of social media platforms, full with the classification markings.
After Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman deleted and edited journal entries and written work product on his private digital gadgets to hide his private opinions on U.S. coverage and drafted entries to assemble a false narrative relating to his exercise. Rahman additionally destroyed a number of digital gadgets, together with a private cellular gadget and an web router he used to transmit categorised info and images of categorised paperwork, and discarded the destroyed gadgets in public trash receptacles in an effort to thwart potential investigations into him and his illegal conduct.
Starting within the spring of 2024 and persevering with by means of November 2024, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed categorised Nationwide Protection Data, together with paperwork categorised as much as the High Secret degree, to take them to his residence. There, Rahman reproduced the paperwork and, whereas doing so, altered them in an effort to hide their supply and his exercise. Rahman then communicated High Secret info that he realized in the middle of his employment to a number of people he knew weren’t entitled to obtain it.
Aber additionally focused Eleview Worldwide Inc., an organization based mostly in Virginia. In keeping with the Division of Justice, two of its executives had been charged with orchestrating “three separate schemes to illegally reroute delicate American expertise to Russia.”
DOJ wrote within the press release in 2024:
Eleview Worldwide Inc., Oleg Nayandin, 54, of Fairfax, Virginia, and Vitaliy Borisenko, 39, of Vienna, Virginia, made their preliminary look at this time within the Japanese District of Virginia pursuant to a now unsealed criticism charging them with conspiracy to violate the Export Management Reform Act.
“We should not enable crucial methods and applied sciences to be transferred to anybody who could use them towards America and our international companions,” mentioned Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of Virginia. “Guarding towards these transfers is crucial, and violations of the legal guidelines that shield our nationwide safety will probably be met with ardent prosecution.”
[…]
In keeping with the criticism, between roughly March 2022 and June 2023, Eleview Worldwide Inc. (Eleview), a Virginia-based firm that operated a freight consolidation and forwarding enterprise; Nayandin, the proprietor, president, and CEO of Eleview; and Borisenko, who oversaw the day-to-day operations of Eleview’s freight forwarding enterprise, allegedly conspired to illegally export items and expertise from the US to Russia by transshipping them by means of three international locations bordering or close to Russia.
As alleged, the defendants operated an e-commerce web site that allowed Russian clients to order U.S. items and expertise instantly from U.S. retailers, who shipped the gadgets to Eleview’s warehouse in Chantilly. The defendants then allegedly consolidated the packages earlier than transport them to the Russian clients, usually utilizing different freight forwarders as intermediaries, in trade for a payment. After the Division of Commerce imposed stricter export controls in response to Russia’s additional invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the defendants allegedly started transport gadgets to purported finish customers in Turkey, Finland, and Kazakhstan, understanding that the gadgets had been finally destined for finish customers in Russia. To facilitate these unlawful exports, the defendants allegedly made quite a few false statements to the Division of Commerce and different freight forwarders concerning the finish customers and supreme consignees of the gadgets in these shipments.
Aber was additionally instrumental in indicting Russian nationals Sergey Ivanov and Timur Shakhmametov for orchestrating one of many largest on-line cash laundering operations, which facilitated cybercrime and ransomware assaults focusing on crucial U.S. monetary infrastructure.
She was additionally concerned in prosecuting twin U.S.-Russian residents for exporting firearm components to Russia with out authorization and indicting Russian nationals for cash laundering networks.
“In keeping with courtroom paperwork, from not less than July 2020 to 2023, Dimitry Timashev, 58, coordinated with an affiliate in Russia to ship weapon components from the US to Russia. In trade, the affiliate paid tuition for Timashev’s daughter and lease for an condo in Ekaterinburg, Russia,” DOJ wrote.
