Authorities arrested Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, a 51-year-old electrical engineer with the Department of Energy, on charges of providing material support to the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. The arrest was announced Thursday by the Justice Department.
Ellaboudy, who resides in Richland, Washington, is scheduled for his initial court appearance on Friday. Court documents do not currently list legal representation for him. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
According to the FBI, Ellaboudy traveled to Yemen in September with the stated objective of enhancing the Houthis’ communications infrastructure. He utilized a passport issued during his previous tenure at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enter Oman, a country bordering Yemen.
Upon returning to the United States, Ellaboudy informed Customs and Border Protection officials that he was on an official government mission to inspect missile defense systems. However, an FBI affidavit revealed that his supervisor at the Energy Department had no knowledge of such travel or any missile inspection program assigned to Ellaboudy.
Investigators state that Ellaboudy told FBI informants, whose identities were introduced during the probe, that he required smuggling assistance to enter and exit Yemen. He expressed a desire to reach the capital, Sanaa, to establish government-level contacts, but the FBI noted he was unable to make it there.
The investigation was initiated after Ellaboudy was found purchasing precursor chemicals used in homemade explosives, including acetone and sodium bisulfate, as well as components for drones. During the probe, he communicated with several informants, one of whom claimed to be a Houthi colonel, offering advice on communications equipment.
The charges fall under federal law prohibiting support for organizations designated as foreign terrorist groups by the United States, a category that includes the Houthis.
“These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination,” John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, said in a statement.
The ongoing conflict between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces, which resumed recently, has resulted in hundreds of deaths and displaced tens of thousands of people since the rebels seized the capital in 2014.
Wait, his supervisor had no idea he was traveling? Either this guy is a ghost or the oversight at the DOE is a total joke.
The part about him buying acetone and sodium bisulfate for homemade explosives is genuinely terrifying. He wasn’t just spying; he was arming them.
Twenty years if convicted, but let’s remember this is just an arrest. We should wait for the actual trial results before judging.
He used an old Army passport to sneak through Oman while lying to customs about an official mission? That is incredibly brazen.
I can’t believe someone with such a high security clearance actually did this. How did he pass all the vetting checks?