(Bloomberg) -- A former Capital One Financial Corp. banker was given no jail time after a judge characterized him as a sort of “accidental spy” for Egypt.
Pierre Girgis, 42, was forced to abandon his banking career after being arrested and charged in 2022 with acting as a foreign agent seeking non-public U.S. law enforcement information on critics of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The felony charges carried a potential 15-year sentence, but prosecutors agreed to allow Girgis to plead guilty to a misdemeanor with a maximum term of six months jail time.
“As an immigrant from Egypt, I have a deep love and care for both countries,” Girgis told US District Judge Katherine Failla in a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.
Girgis, a dual citizen of the US and Egypt, had previously worked at Citigroup Inc. His lawyer, Andrew Dalack, told Failla that prosecutors originally issued a “full-throated press release” that painted his client as a spy, causing him to resign from Capital One and resulting in threats, lost friends and closed bank accounts.
Dalack told the judge his client had acted in good faith in a misguided effort to try to promote security in his immigrant community. The judge agreed the nearly three years Girgis had spent on bail, unable to visit family in Egypt, was sufficient punishment.
Dalack said after the hearing that he and his client were “thrilled” with the “just result” of no additional criminal penalties.
The case is US v. Girgis, 22-cr-00006, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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