TAMPA, Fla. — The second day of the trial of four activists accused of conspiring to defraud the U.S. continued with federal prosecutors calling their next set of witnesses and the defense arguing some testimony and evidence documents would "grossly mislead" jurors.
On Thursday, the four activists connected to the Uhuru Movement — African People's Socialist Party Chairman Oswali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, Jesse Nevel and Black Hammer founder Augustus Romain — returned to the top floor of the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa to listen to prosecutors continue presenting their case.
Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel are also charged with failing to register with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign government. All four have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
FBI counterintelligence special agent testifies
The main testimony Thursday was from Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Anna Myers, who works in counterintelligence.
For about six months, from January 2022 to July 2022, she reportedly analyzed numerous documents that prosecutors allege prove Alexander Ionov, a codefendant in this case, was an asset of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Russia who reported on the dealings with various American groups, including the APSP and Black Hammer.
According to Agent Myers' testimony, Ionov had a main handler in the FSB with whom he had many text conversations through WhatsApp, allegedly met in person numerous times and sent regular reports.
Agent Myers, who was born in Russia (then the USSR) and immigrated to the U.S. when she was 14, said she analyzed seized documents from Ionov and Ygor Popov's, the alleged FSB handler, respective iCloud accounts. Those documents were translated from Russian to English, but Myers confirmed she is a native Russian speaker.
The materials Myers said she analyzed included photos, Word documents, text messages and emails. Based on her research of the documents, she said she got to know Ionov in a way and said she believes he was an asset to the FSB during at least some of the time Ionov was working with the APSP and Uhuru Movement as president of the Anti-Governmental Movement of Russia (AGM).
However, she admitted she didn't have any direct contact with any Russian nationals, including Ionov and did not do any fact-checking of the validity of what was claimed in the seized data and materials. Rather, her job was to review and analyze what she'd been tasked with.
Defense cross-examines, says future evidence will prove Ionov reports are 'clearly false'
Myers, who works at the FBI's New York field office, said during cross-examination when she arrived at the Tampa field office, she was given the already compiled data to analyze from other agents.
The defense established the narrow scope of Myers' review of documents, which were only from late 2017 through 2020.
"You assume a lot," Mr. Ackbar, Jesse Nevel's attorney said regarding Myers' review of Ionov and Popov's iCloud data. He said this after several of his questions to which she replied she didn't feel comfortable answering because they were out of the scope of her investigation.
Hess' defense attorney said that Uhuru had been open with its relationship with AGM, carrying the organization's banner to several protests and marches, as seen in photos from said iCloud accounts. The defense also pointed to Ionov's own report that used the term "bilateral conglomerate agreement" when describing his relationship with the Uhuru Movement.
According to the defense, this implies that the defendants were partners with AGM and Ionov and weren't ever told about his alleged dealings with Russian agents. Therefore, they didn't have knowledge that they were potentially being used by a foreign government.
After the jury was dismissed for the day, the defense spoke with the judge to challenge Myers' testimony and the evidence entered as hearsay and attempt to have it thrown out.
During Myers' testimony, the judge repeatedly told the jury that the documents entered into evidence were not to be taken as "truth" or "lies," but rather as what was found and reported on.
However, the defense believes Myers' testimony and the evidence entered by prosecutors could "grossly mislead" the jury. The defense claims much of Ionov's reports are "clearly false."
For example, one of Ionov's reports recounts an alleged speaking engagement Yeshitela had in 2020 at San Diego University, in which he said many controversial things and caused a stir at the college. However, according to the defense, the conference Yeshitela was slated to speak at was canceled, proving Ionov greatly exaggerated and perhaps even made up many of his reports to Popov.
The judge said while that may be true, such evidence showing the contrary to what was in Ionov's reports has not been submitted yet. Therefore, he has not tossed any of Myers' testimony at this time because he hasn't seen said evidence.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Friday.
