Abraham Teklu Lemma admitted sharing dozens of classified documents and photographs with senior Ethiopian officials, the Justice Department said. His plea agreement provides for up to 22 years in prison if the court accepts it.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, a former US government contractor, pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defense information to Ethiopia, the US Justice Department announced on 3 November 2026. The department said he admitted sharing dozens of classified documents and photographs with senior Ethiopian officials. Its account describes documents, notes, materials and photographs classified up to the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level.
The plea follows Lemma’s arrest in August 2023. The Justice Department said court documents describe a conspiracy that began in 2021 and involved senior officials in Ethiopia’s political, military and intelligence branches.
Lemma is an Ethiopian-born American citizen who worked as an information technology contractor at the State Department, Justice Department and National Reconnaissance Office, the agency responsible for US intelligence satellites. He held a Top Secret security clearance, the Justice Department said. That classification covers information whose unauthorized disclosure could cause exceptionally grave damage to US national security.
The department said Lemma carried handwritten notes containing classified information out of secure facilities and used his administrator access to extract electronic files. The material included satellite images and details of military activities, which he sent in encrypted messages, BBC reported. Much of the information concerned an armed conflict in Ethiopia, the department said.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said Lemma hoped Ethiopian officials would use the information to target and kill paramilitary fighters. Eisenberg called his conduct an extraordinary betrayal of the United States and said he removed classified national defense information, including Top Secret information, from a secure facility. The FBI separately said Ethiopian officials used information he supplied in military operations.
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On 18 December 2021, Lemma told an Ethiopian conspirator, “We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia,” the Justice Department said. Later that day, he sent more information and wrote, “Please send Dro[nes].”
The Tigray war began in November 2020, pitting Ethiopian federal forces and their allies against fighters from the northern Tigray region. It killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. The war was marked by widespread allegations of atrocities, including massacres, sexual violence and attacks on civilians. A peace agreement in November 2022 ended the main fighting, although tensions and insecurity persisted.
US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said Lemma’s disclosures jeopardized US national security. Under his plea agreement, he agreed to a prison term of 120–262 months, if the court accepts it; BBC described the upper end as up to 22 years. Sentencing is scheduled for 14 April 2027.
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