A former U.S. government contractor has pleaded guilty to conspiring to spy for Ethiopia, the Daily Caller reported, citing a Justice Department announcement. Abraham Teklu Lemma, 54, of Silver Spring, Maryland, entered the plea on Nov. 3. He was arrested in August 2023; this week’s development is his guilty plea, not a new arrest.
Lemma worked as an information technology contractor at the State Department, the Justice Department and the National Reconnaissance Office, where he held a Top Secret clearance.
According to the Justice Department, from 2021 until his arrest, he passed dozens of classified documents, notes and photographs, some at the highest classification level, to senior Ethiopian government officials. Much of the material concerned an armed conflict inside Ethiopia.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a Justice Department statement that Lemma “betrayed his oath, his colleagues, and his country.”
Under the plea agreement, he faces 120 to 262 months in prison if the court accepts it. Sentencing is set for April 14, 2027, according to the department.
The Daily Caller placed the case alongside several other recent leak investigations involving current or former government personnel.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
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