“Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency,” the letter read. “I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax.”
A nuclear engineer with the U.S. Navy stands accused of trying to sell secrets about the country’s nuclear submarines to a foreign nation in exchange for cryptocurrency payments. The espionage scheme was uncovered by the FBI late last year and a criminal complaint was subsequently filed against engineer Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diane Toebe in West Virginia, according to The Washington Post. The complaint alleged that Toebbe “has passed, and continues to pass, Restricted Data as defined by the Atomic Energy Act… to a foreign government… with the witting assistance of his spouse,” according to court documents that were unsealed on Sunday. The FBI became aware of the scheme in December when it received a package delivered to a foreign nation, the Post reported. It contained several documents pertaining to U.S. Naval operations, a letter, and an explanation of how to encrypt further communications. “Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency,” the letter read.
