IRS analyst John C. Fry allegedly accessed five "suspicious-activity reports" in May, 2018, that discussed wire transfers, check deposits and possible illegal overseas transactions associated with President Trump’s former lawyer.
Prosecutors charged Fry with unlawfully disclosing information from suspicious-activity reports to Michael Avenatti, a San Diego-based attorney who represents Stormy Daniels, one of the women accusing the president of buying their silence about past sexual affairs.
One report involved an October, 2016, transfer to a Cohen bank account of $130,000, the amount Cohen says he paid Daniels for not speaking publicly about her relationship with Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to charges that included violations of campaign finance laws for handling payments to influence the presidential election, and said he did so at Trump's direction. Trump has denied it.
Avenatti tweeted a dossier with the information in May, 2018, commenting that "Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen have a lot of explaining to do." Explosive reports published the same day in the Washington Post, and eight days later in the New Yorker, detailed Cohen’s transactions, prosecutors said.
Fry met with federal agents in November and admitted providing the restricted information to Avenatti and the New Yorker reporter, according to a court affidavit by Treasury Department Agent Linda Cieslak.
If convicted of the charges, Fry could face up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Fry’s lawyer, Gail Shifman, was not immediately available for comment.
The complaint, filed in San Francisco federal court, was unsealed Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler. Court documents said Fry illegally accessed five reports using the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Palantir.
Fry then called Avenatti and continued searching for other incriminating reports using Cohen’s driver’s license and social security numbers, according to the complaint.
Fry allegedly leaked the information to Avenatti because he was concerned Cohen’s records were being withheld from law enforcement investigations. The IRS analyst allegedly used the encrypted messaging platform WhatsApp to communicate with reporters for the Post and the New Yorker.
The information led to a report by the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow that claimed Cohen’s company, Essential Consultants, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies that wanted access to the Trump administration, including AT&T and drug manufacturer Novartis.
"This is a permanent record," Fry anonymously told the New Yorker, according to the complaint, adding that some records should have been given to investigators but were improperly withheld. "They should be there, and there is nothing there."
Shortly after the story’s publication, the U.S. Treasury Department launched an investigation into who leaked the confidential documents
Fry wasn’t assigned to work on New York-based cases and his supervisor said the analyst had no reason to access Cohen’s records, according to the complaint.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty in August to eight counts of campaign finance law violations, bank fraud and tax evasion, is expected to testify about his financial dealings ‐ as well those on behalf of Trump ‐ in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Feb. 28.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Fry’s case. He is scheduled to be back in federal court March 13.