# The business-card espionage charges > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The business-card espionage charges," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-business-card-espionage-charges/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *Two of the three Espionage Act counts brought against John Kiriakou rested on his having passed a former CIA colleague's business card to two reporters — a man who had left the agency and had never been undercover — and were dropped after an exchange in open court in which the prosecutor's only answer to the judge was that Kiriakou should have been more careful.* - **Counts:** Two of three Espionage Act charges - **The act charged:** Passing a business card to two reporters - **The recipients:** One reporter at ABC, one at The New York Times - **The card's owner:** A former colleague, out of the agency and never undercover - **Outcome:** Dismissed **The business-card espionage charges** were two of the three counts brought against [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) under the [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act), and the pair he uses to argue that the government knew its espionage case was empty.[1][2] ## What was charged The conduct underlying both counts was the same act. Kiriakou had given a former CIA colleague's business card to two reporters — one at ABC and one at The New York Times. The colleague was no longer in the CIA, and, Kiriakou stresses, had never been undercover.[1] He sets them beside the third count, which rested on his having disclosed top-secret compartmented information about a CIA programme to The New York Times — the information in question being [that the CIA had a programme to capture or kill al-Qaeda members](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act).[3] ## The exchange in court Kiriakou's account of how the two counts collapsed is a short scene he reports in direct speech. His attorney told the judge that the man had never been undercover and that all his client had done was pass along a business card the man was handing out to everybody.[4] The judge answered: *"I find that very hard to believe."* She then turned to the prosecutors and asked whether it was true. The prosecutor's reply, in Kiriakou's telling, conceded the point without conceding it: *"well, Your Honor, Mr. Kiriakou really should have been more careful."* She turned back to the defence and said she would entertain a motion to dismiss those charges.[4] All three espionage counts were eventually dropped.[3][4] ## What he takes from it Kiriakou treats the weakness of these counts as the explanation for [the undercover operation run against him beforehand](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/japanese-diplomat-fbi-sting). The FBI knew the espionage case was weak to non-existent because he had not committed espionage — so what they wanted was to catch him actually committing it, which is why they sent in a man posing as a Japanese diplomat.[3][2] ## See also - [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act) - [Japanese diplomat FBI sting](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/japanese-diplomat-fbi-sting) - [Intelligence Identities Protection Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/intelligence-identities-protection-act) - [Eastern District of Virginia](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/eastern-district-of-virginia) - [Federal plea coercion](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/federal-plea-coercion) ## Sources 1. They Won't Shut Me Up - John Kiriakou on RAI (10/10) (2015-05-08), at 04:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjO7saoQjNk&t=242s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-05-08-the-real-news-network-they-won-t-shut-me-up-john-kiriakou-on-rai-10/ 2. They Won't Shut Me Up - John Kiriakou on RAI (10/10) (2015-05-08), at 05:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjO7saoQjNk&t=306s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-05-08-the-real-news-network-they-won-t-shut-me-up-john-kiriakou-on-rai-10/ 3. They Won't Shut Me Up - John Kiriakou on RAI (10/10) (2015-05-08), at 03:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjO7saoQjNk&t=208s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-05-08-the-real-news-network-they-won-t-shut-me-up-john-kiriakou-on-rai-10/ 4. They Won't Shut Me Up - John Kiriakou on RAI (10/10) (2015-05-08), at 04:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjO7saoQjNk&t=274s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-05-08-the-real-news-network-they-won-t-shut-me-up-john-kiriakou-on-rai-10/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-business-card-espionage-charges/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt