US Navy employee sold secret data for $100,000 in cryptocurrency

A United States Navy (USN) employee and his spouse have been arrested on suspicion of selling secret data for cryptocurrency. The information comes from the Justice Department’s website.

According to authorities, nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe (Toebbe), with the help of his wife, was selling information about the design of American nuclear submarines to an alleged representative of a foreign state. The latter turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

In June 2021, the agent sent Toebbe $10 000 in cryptocurrency. According to CoinDesk, the payment involved Monero. The Justice Department’s statement does not specify which cryptocurrency was used in the deal.

After receiving the payment, the spouses hid an SD card containing secret data inside half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged location. The agent then sent the Navy employee another $20 000 for the decryption key.

In August, Toebbe hid another SD card in a packaging from gum, receiving $70 000 for the decryption key. In October, the engineer made another stash with a card containing submarine data, after which he and his wife were arrested.

The spouses are due to appear in court on October 12.

Earlier, the spouses, who served in the U.S. Navy, were accused of selling personal data of more than 9,000 people for $160,000 in Bitcoin.

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