Ashley Tellis, a well-known US scholar and former diplomat of Indian origin, has been arrested for keeping secret government documents and meeting Chinese officials. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, said Tellis, 64, was charged under a national defense law. He was arrested on 11 October in Virginia, the same day he had planned to travel to Rome.
Diplomat Ashley Tellis Arrested
Investigators found over 1,000 pages of classified documents at Tellis’s home. Officials stated that he had printed secret information and met Chinese officials several times in Virginia. Tellis is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and earlier worked on the US–India civil nuclear deal. If found guilty, he could face up to ten years in prison and a fine.
