An unregistered agent of the Egyptian government was allegedly operating in 2022, according to a man from New York. In yet another blow to American prosecutors’ efforts to limit foreign influence, he entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge on Wednesday.
Pierre Girgis, a Manhattan-based dual citizen of Egyptian and American citizenship, acknowledged in court that he provided the Egyptian-American community with information from the Egyptian government in 2019 about the military conscription duties of expatriates. Still, he did not designate it as “political propaganda” as the law demanded.
The substantial allegations that were first presented against him were far more serious than this one. The prosecution had claimed that he had been watching American opponents of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and helping visiting Egyptian officials go to the police academy in Manhattan, which was exclusive for law enforcement.
Girgis will admit guilt to a lesser charge of failing to properly file and mark informational items in exchange for the dismissal of these charges.
Andrew Dalack, Girgis’s attorney, told reporters during the hearing that “this was overcharged from the beginning.” He was relieved that the prosecutors realized it was inappropriate to bring significant accusations. “This case was not what it appeared to be.”
A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office refrained from commenting, and an inquiry for comment was not promptly answered by the Egyptian embassy in Washington.
In recent times, the Department of Justice in the United States has taken strong action against what it terms “transnational repression,” denoting attempts by foreign governments to threaten or intimidate political opponents in other nations.
Prosecutors must demonstrate that the defendant was operating under the “direction or control” of a foreign government, which has occasionally proven difficult to prove in cases involving foreign agents.
Businessman Tom Barrack was found not guilty following a six-week trial in 2022 of serving as an agent for the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn dropped charges against a former New York City Police Department officer who was charged with operating as a Chinese agent last year.
The financial professional Girgis testified in court that he had no idea he was breaching any laws when he disclosed information on behalf of an Egyptian consulate official. Remorseful, he claimed he now realized he ought to have “put a statement on the document acknowledging it as political propaganda.”
When Girgis, 42, is sentenced on October 3 in Manhattan before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, he could spend up to six months behind bars. The maximum sentences for the two major counts he was initially facing were five years and ten years, respectively.
