Culver City Man Pleads Guilty To Selling Military Secrets To Supposed Russian Spy

CULVER CITY, CA — A Culver City man who worked for a defense contractor pleaded guilty Monday to economic espionage and violating the Arms Export Control Act for selling sensitive satellite information to a person he believed to be a Russian spy.

Gregory Allen Justice, 49, who worked as an engineer on military and commercial satellite programs, pleaded guilty to two felony offenses that could send him to federal prison for as long as 35 years, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

According to his plea agreement, Justice stole proprietary trade secrets from his employer — whose name was not released — and provided them an undercover FBI agent whom he believed to a be Russian spy.

In addition to their proprietary nature, the documents contained technical data covered by the United States Munitions List and therefore were subject to controls restricting export from the United States under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In exchange for providing these materials during a series of meeting between February and July of 2016, Justice sought and received thousands of dollars in cash payments, according to the During one meeting, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Justice and the undercover agent discussed developing a relationship like one depicted on the television show “The Americans,” and during their final meeting, Justice offered to take the undercover agent on a tour of his employer’s production facilities where Justice said all military spacecraft were built, according to the plea agreement.

Justice pleaded guilty to one count each of attempting to commit economic espionage and attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act. He was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18. Justice has been in custody since his arrest last July.

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