New York man accused of being Egyptian agent pleads guilty to lesser charge

[August 15, 2024]  By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man who was indicted in 2022 on felony charges of acting as an unregistered agent of Egypt's government pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a lesser charge, in the latest stumble for U.S. prosecutors trying to clamp down on foreign influence.

Pierre Girgis, a dual Egyptian-U.S. citizen living in Manhattan, admitted in court to sharing information in 2019 with the Egyptian-American community from the Egyptian government about expatriates' military draft obligations, without labeling it as "political propaganda" as required by law.

That was a far cry from the felony charges Girgis initially faced. Prosecutors had accused him of tracking U.S.-based opponents of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and helping visiting Egyptian officials attend police trainings in Manhattan meant only for law enforcement.

Those charges will be dropped as part of a deal in which Girgis agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of failure to file and label informational materials.

"This was overcharged from the beginning," defense lawyer Andrew Dalack told reporters after the hearing, adding that he was grateful prosecutors decided felony charges were not warranted. "This was just not what it seemed to be."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment. Egypt's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Justice Department has in recent years cracked down on what it terms transnational repression, or efforts by a foreign state to intimidate or threaten political opponents in another country.

Pierre Girgis departs after a hearing from the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City, U.S., August 14, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado

But prosecutors have occasionally struggled to win convictions on foreign agent charges, which require them to prove that defendants were acting at the "direction or control" of a foreign government.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn last year dropped charges against a former New York City Police Department officer who was accused of acting as a Chinese agent, and businessman Tom Barrack was acquitted after a six-week trial in 2022 of acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates.

Girgis, who worked in finance, said in court he did not know he was breaking the law at the time he shared the information on behalf of an Egyptian consular official. He apologized and said he now understood he should have "placed a statement on the document identifying it as political propaganda."

Girgis, 42, faces no more than six months behind bars at his Oct. 3 sentencing before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan. The two felony charges he previously faced carried maximum prison terms of ten and five years.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)

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