Last May a then-unidentified perpetrator leaked the back records of President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti.
In response, Treasury Department Inspector General Eric Thorson launched an investigation. On Thursday the investigation reached its veritable climax as federal prosecutors charged an Internal Revenue Service investigative analyst for the leak.
A press release by the Department of Justice says that John Fry, an investigative analyst for the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division, exploited his “access to various law enforcement databases” to retrieve confidential “Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)” about Cohen.
“[I]n May 2018, Fry logged on to [the] FinCEN and Palantir [databases] from his work computer and conducted numerous searches related to the taxpayer who was a New York attorney. Fry then disclosed the SAR information to an attorney based in Newport Beach, Calif,” the release reads.
That attorney was Michael Avenatti.
“On May 8, 2018, the attorney used a public Twitter account to circulate a dossier releasing confidential banking information related to the taxpayer and the taxpayer’s company. The SAR information that was passed to the Los Angeles attorney was published in the Washington Post on May 8, 2018.”
After significant investigation, we have discovered that Mr. Trump’s atty Mr. Cohen received approximately $500,000 in the mos. after the election from a company controlled by a Russian Oligarc with close ties to Mr. Putin. These monies may have reimbursed the $130k payment.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 8, 2018
The Executive Summary from our first Preliminary Report on Findings may be accessed via the link below. Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen have a lot of explaining to do.https://t.co/179WvIkRlD
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 8, 2018
As the story went viral at the time, Fry then linked up with investigative journalist Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker for an exclusive interview. During the interview he claimed that he had leaked the documents because several SARs about Cohen had allegedly been deleted from federal databases.
“When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned,” he said “That’s why I came forward… We’ve accepted this as normal, and this is not normal. Things that stand out as abnormal, like documents being removed from a system, are of grave concern to me.”
He unironically added, “This is a terrifying time to be an American, to be in this situation, and to watch all of this unfold.”
Those who take issue with government employees going beyond the scope of their authority to harm and/or topple the president of the United States would likely agree with that sentiment. Speaking of which, Fry had no legitimate work-related reason to retrieve Cohen’s SARs.
While it’s true that the release of these SARs led to the discovery that Cohen had during the election three years ago paid Daniels to remain quiet about her extramarital affair with the president — a discovery which in turn led to him pleading guilty in federal court to campaign finance law violations — this fact doesn’t lessen the severity of Fry’s own crimes.
The press release by the DOJ says that Fry has been charged with “violating 31 U.S.C. § 5322(a), which prohibits unauthorized disclosure of information from SARs,” and “faces a maximum sentence of five years and a fine of $250,000 for a violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5322.”
What remains unclear is whether Avenatti (or even Farrow) could potentially face charges for accepting the confidential IRS documents and then distributing them to the public.
The lawyer maintains he did nothing wrong:
Neither I nor R. Farrow did anything wrong or illegal with the financial info relating to Cohen’s crimes (the courts have found that the BSA does not apply – see below). And if we did (we didn’t), then every reporter in America would be jailed and unable to do their job.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) February 21, 2019
Others strongly disagree:
You mean trafficking national security information. You are aware that Treasury FinCEN is an intelligence agency, right? 31 U.S. Code § 5322 (a). https://t.co/OaHpya7MiS
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 21, 2019
If it was improperly given to you, it was wrongly acquired!
— Patrick Casale (@patrick_casale) February 22, 2019
If it was improperly given to you, it was wrongly acquired!
— Patrick Casale (@patrick_casale) February 22, 2019
Youre busted!!! JUSTICE DOES COME SLOW….BUT IT WILL CATH YOU
— Marcus Vronik (@MarcusVronik) February 22, 2019
Going down…let us know how hell is
— Kim Catalano (@KimCatalano4) February 21, 2019
Going down…let us know how hell is
— Kim Catalano (@KimCatalano4) February 21, 2019
But the 40 minute phone call you had with FRY where he immediately accessed the files and searched for what you asked him to find is a huge huge crime buddy. They got it all. And Fry gave you up. #MAGA
— They call me Mr Dirt (@oldmanluvsmineo) February 22, 2019
Regarding the last tweet, federal investigators reportedly uncovered Fry’s identity in part by tracing phone calls between him and Avenatti made in early May.
When confronted by federal authorities last November, Fry fessed up to everything.
“Fry confessed to verbally providing SAR information to Avenatti. Fry also admitted that he sent Avenatti a screenshot of the narrative,” the complaint against him reads.
His next court appearance is reportedly scheduled for Mar. 13.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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