Americas

Home page

Americas

U.S. charges New York man with acting as Egyptian agent, tracking political opponents

07 January 2022 02:39 (UTC +04:00)

A New York man has been indicted on charges he acted as an unregistered agent of Egypt's government, including by tracking opponents of the country's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

According to a two-count indictment, Pierre Girgis, 39, a dual Egyptian-U.S. citizen living in Manhattan, operated between 2014 and April 2019 at the "direction and control" of multiple Egyptian government employees to advance the government's interests in the United States.

Prosecutors said that in addition to monitoring Sisi's critics, Girgis used his ties with local law enforcement to obtain nonpublic information, arranged benefits for Egyptian officials visiting Manhattan, and coordinated meetings between U.S. and Egyptian law enforcement.

The Egyptian native's activities included an alleged March 2019 effort to help visiting Egyptian officials attend police trainings in Manhattan that were meant only for law enforcement, prosecutors said.