Archive · 5 Sep 2025
State Dept. Employee Sentenced for Selling Defense Info
A State Department employee named Michael Schena was caught selling secret government information.
He had a high-level security clearance, giving him access to sensitive documents.
Beginning in April 2022, he started communicating with people he met online and giving them information in exchange for money.
In August 2024, he received $10,000 and a phone to send more information.
He used the phone to photograph and send classified documents.
The FBI eventually caught him and arrested him before he could transmit all the information.
He has now been sentenced to four years in prison.
Michael Schena, a State Department employee, was sentenced to four years in prison.
Schena held a top-secret security clearance.
He provided sensitive U.S. government information for money starting in April 2022.
Schena met an individual in Peru in August 2024 and received money and a phone.
He used the phone to photograph and transmit classified documents.
- Who
- Michael Schena, a State Department employee.
- What
- Schena was sentenced for conspiring to collect and transmit national defense information.
- When
- Schena was sentenced on Thursday.
- Where
- Schena worked at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. The meeting for money was in Peru.
- Why
- Schena sold sensitive government information for money to individuals he believed were working for China.
- Defendant
- Michael Schena
- Job
- State Department Employee
- Sentence
- Four years in prison
- Security Clearance
- Top Secret
- Location of Crime
- Washington, D.C. and Peru
- Start of Espionage
- April 2022