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"Spy Babe"'s Call To Spy Daddy Set Her Arrest In Motion
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 12, 2010
Modified Jul 12, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 12, 2010
Modified Jul 12, 2010
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Aha: The Washington Post suggests that the arrest of ten alleged Russian spies was prompted by a phone call that A NYC party girl and social networking enthusiast made to her father, because the FBI informant posing as a Russian contact was a bit suspicious: "An anxious June 26 phone call from Russian spy Anna Chapman to her father, a KGB veteran working in Moscow's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the Obama administration to hasten the arrests the next day of Chapman and nine other 'illegals' in the United States, according to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence sources."
The Post describes Chapman's meeting:
The FBI informant identified himself in the call as a Russian she knew as a superior, but when she met him, he turned out not to be that person, according to someone familiar with her case. Her concerns deepened when "Roman," the name the informant used, asked her to take on a task that went beyond what she expected from her bosses at Moscow Center -- a face-to-face transfer of a fake passport to another Russian "illegal."
After the meeting, Chapman bought a new cellphone and two calling cards for international calls. She made one call to her father in Moscow and another to a friend in New York. Both told her not to go through with the proposed transfer.
Of course, the calls were being monitored. Her father suggested she turn the fake passport into the police, which she did: "About 1 p.m. June 27, Chapman went to the 1st Precinct in Lower Manhattan, turned in the passport and told the police what had occurred. The police called the FBI. When FBI officials arrived a few hours later, they asked a few questions and then arrested her."
D'oh! Now, after careful diplomatic work and a spy swap, Chapman is back in Russia. Her British passport, which she received after marrying a British citizen (who shared topless photos of her), is being revoked.
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anna chapman
kgb
phone call
russia
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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