Natalie Edwards
Dr. Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards is a former senior official with the United States Treasury who was employed in the Financial Crimes division.
She was arrested on October 16, 2018, for allegedly disclosing suspicious activity reports from October 2017 to October 2018 detailing Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential election to a reporter with BuzzFeed News, which published the series "The Money Trail". The SARs included money transfers and information about Maria Butina, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, the Russian Embassy in the United States, and a Russian firm, Prevezon Alexander, LLC., involved with money laundering.
The Wall Street Journal identified the Buzz Feed reporter as Jason Leopold. Edwards allegedly sent Leopold internal FinCEN emails, investigative memos and intelligence assessments, and the two were in regular contact.. The New York Times characterized Edwards' case as procedurally different from that of James Wolfe, even though both cases involved leaking to reporters.
The government's decision to charge Dr. Edwards is significant as this appears to be the first criminal case based solely upon an unauthorized disclosure of a SAR. The criminal complaint against her contains a footnote that "Edwards told the Interviewing Agents, in sum and substance, that she is a “whistleblower” and the government acknowledges she filed a whistleblower complaint and reached out to congressional staffers". The footnote continues on to note that the whistleblower complaint filed was "unrelated to the SARs disclosures."
Edwards pled guilty in 2020.
