A Maryland man who once held a top-secret security clearance while working as an information technology contractor for the federal government has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit espionage on behalf of Ethiopia. Abraham Teklu Lemma now faces a prison term that could stretch past two decades, depending on how a judge handles his plea agreement.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Lemma worked as an information technology contractor at the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Justice before admitting he conspired to commit espionage for the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The Justice Department snippet lists his age as 53, while DC News Now reports he is 54 — a discrepancy that has not been resolved in the available records.
Per the same DC News Now report, Lemma held a top-secret security clearance and used it to collect and transmit dozens of highly classified documents to Ethiopian government officials. Court documents cited by the station describe the scheme as having provided highly classified U.S. government information to a foreign government for more than two years.
Conflicting Timelines on When the Spying Began
Exactly when Lemma's alleged espionage started remains murky. The station's report states he was accused of spying from 2021 until his 2023 arrest, while The Washington Post reported in 2023 that he was accused of passing classified information since August 2022 to an official associated with Ethiopia's intelligence service. The Post's earlier coverage reflects the case at the charging stage rather than the guilty plea.
The Post's 2023 reporting noted only that Lemma had been charged with espionage at that point, underscoring how the case has moved from accusation to an admitted conspiracy over the following years.
Sentencing Range Hinges on Court Approval
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced Lemma's guilty plea, per the article from DC News Now. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Lemma agreed to serve between 120 and 262 months in prison — roughly 10 to nearly 22 years — if the court accepts the agreement, according to the same account. He is scheduled to be sentenced in April 2027.
Whether the judge will accept the negotiated sentencing range, and what final punishment Lemma will face, won't be known until his April 2027 sentencing date.
