<p>Anna Chapman has been called the femme fatale of a spy case with Cold War-style intrigue — a striking redhead and self-styled entrepreneur who dabbled in real estate and mused on her Facebook page, “if you can dream, you can become it.”<br /><br />Chapman’s American dream, US authorities say, was a ruse. The 28-year-old Chapman, they say, was a savvy Russian secret agent who worked with a network of other operatives before an FBI undercover agent lured her into an elaborate trap at a coffee shop.<br /><br />Though the US has branded the operatives as living covertly, at least in Chapman’s case, she had taken care to brand herself publicly as a striver of the digital age, passionately embracing online social networking by posting information and images of herself for the world to see.<br /><br />Prosecutors have charged Chapman and 10 other suspects with following orders by Russian intelligence to become “Americanised” enough to infiltrate “policy-making circles” and feed information back to Moscow.<br /><br />Assistant US Attorney Michael Farbiarz has called evidence against Chapman “devastating”. She is “someone who has extraordinary training, who is a sophisticated agent of Russia,” he said. Exactly what sort of information the agents are alleged to have provided to their Russian handlers was not disclosed. <br /><br />The FBI moved in to break up the ring because one of the suspects — apparently Chapman, who was bound for Moscow — was going to leave the country.<br /><br />No damaging ties<br /><br />Russian officials initially denounced the arrests as “Cold War-era spy stories” and accused elements of the US government of trying to undermine the improving relationship between Moscow and Washington. But the White House and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that the arrests would not damage ties between the two nations.<br /><br />Chapman used online social networks, including LinkedIn and Facebook, to develop business contacts and to market her skills. On LinkedIn, she is listed as the chief executive officer of PropertyFinder Ltd. <br /><br />Media reports quickly branded her a femme fatale. An undercover FBI agent came into the scene in June. Posing as a Russian consulate employee and wearing a wire, he arranged a meeting with Chapman at a Manhattan coffee shop. They initially spoke in Russian but then agreed to switch to English to draw less attention to themselves.<br /><br />The undercover said he knew she was headed to Moscow in two weeks “to talk officially about your work,” but before that, “I have a task for you to do tomorrow.” The task: To deliver a fraudulent passport to another woman working as a spy.<br /><br />“Are you ready for this step?” he asked. “S---, of course,” she responded. But Chapman was leery, prosecutors said.<br /><br />Afterwards, authorities say, she was concerned enough to buy a cell phone and make a “flurry of calls” to Russia. In one of the intercepted calls, a man advised her she may have been uncovered, should turn in the passport to police and get out of the country. She was arrested at a New York Police Department precinct after following that advice.<br /></p>
<p>Anna Chapman has been called the femme fatale of a spy case with Cold War-style intrigue — a striking redhead and self-styled entrepreneur who dabbled in real estate and mused on her Facebook page, “if you can dream, you can become it.”<br /><br />Chapman’s American dream, US authorities say, was a ruse. The 28-year-old Chapman, they say, was a savvy Russian secret agent who worked with a network of other operatives before an FBI undercover agent lured her into an elaborate trap at a coffee shop.<br /><br />Though the US has branded the operatives as living covertly, at least in Chapman’s case, she had taken care to brand herself publicly as a striver of the digital age, passionately embracing online social networking by posting information and images of herself for the world to see.<br /><br />Prosecutors have charged Chapman and 10 other suspects with following orders by Russian intelligence to become “Americanised” enough to infiltrate “policy-making circles” and feed information back to Moscow.<br /><br />Assistant US Attorney Michael Farbiarz has called evidence against Chapman “devastating”. She is “someone who has extraordinary training, who is a sophisticated agent of Russia,” he said. Exactly what sort of information the agents are alleged to have provided to their Russian handlers was not disclosed. <br /><br />The FBI moved in to break up the ring because one of the suspects — apparently Chapman, who was bound for Moscow — was going to leave the country.<br /><br />No damaging ties<br /><br />Russian officials initially denounced the arrests as “Cold War-era spy stories” and accused elements of the US government of trying to undermine the improving relationship between Moscow and Washington. But the White House and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that the arrests would not damage ties between the two nations.<br /><br />Chapman used online social networks, including LinkedIn and Facebook, to develop business contacts and to market her skills. On LinkedIn, she is listed as the chief executive officer of PropertyFinder Ltd. <br /><br />Media reports quickly branded her a femme fatale. An undercover FBI agent came into the scene in June. Posing as a Russian consulate employee and wearing a wire, he arranged a meeting with Chapman at a Manhattan coffee shop. They initially spoke in Russian but then agreed to switch to English to draw less attention to themselves.<br /><br />The undercover said he knew she was headed to Moscow in two weeks “to talk officially about your work,” but before that, “I have a task for you to do tomorrow.” The task: To deliver a fraudulent passport to another woman working as a spy.<br /><br />“Are you ready for this step?” he asked. “S---, of course,” she responded. But Chapman was leery, prosecutors said.<br /><br />Afterwards, authorities say, she was concerned enough to buy a cell phone and make a “flurry of calls” to Russia. In one of the intercepted calls, a man advised her she may have been uncovered, should turn in the passport to police and get out of the country. She was arrested at a New York Police Department precinct after following that advice.<br /></p>
