U.S. Navy Engineer Sold Classified Nuclear Data for Crypto

A United States nuclear engineer working for the country’s Navy has been charged with selling of classified information to an undercover government agent in exchange for the cryptocurrency ‘monero‘.

In a criminal complaint filed by the the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday, Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana, both of Maryland, were accused of selling information related to the design of U.S. nuclear submarines to a foreign nation. The charge holds that the pair violated the Atomic Energy Act, which prohibits the communication, transmission, or disclosure of restricted nuclear data with the intent to harm the U.S. or provide an advantage to foreign nations.

Jonathan and Diana Toebbe will appear in front of the federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia on Tuesday.

The criminal complaint reveals that on April 1 this year, Jonathan Toebbe had sent a sample of classified data to what he believed to be representative of a foreign government and then started corresponding via encrypted email.

Following initial contact, the Toebbes made three attempts to sell the sensitive information between June 8 and October 9 of this year. They met with an undercover agent and handed over the restricted data related to submarine nuclear reactors. The data were stored onto SD cards which were then concealed in half a peanut butter sandwich and a chewing gum packet

Prior to their arrest by the FBOI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the couple had received payments of $100,000 in ‘monero’.