Anna Vasil’yevna Chapman Russian: А́нна Васи́льевна Ча́пман; born Anna Vasil’yevna Kushchyenko Russian: А́нна Васи́льевна Кущенко; 23 February 1982 is a Russian national, who while living in New York, United States was arrested along with nine others on 27 June 2010, on suspicion of working for the Illegals Program spy ring under the Russian Federation's external intelligence agency, the SVR (Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki). Chapman pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General, and was deported back to Russia on 8 July 2010, as part of a prisoner swap.
Contents
* 1 Biography
o 1.1 London: 2001–2006
o 1.2 New York: 2006–2010
o 1.3 Russia: 2010–present
* 2 Illegals Program and arrest
o 2.1 Arrest
o 2.2 International exchange
o 2.3 Revocation of UK citizenship
* 3 Media coverage and popular reaction
* 4 References
* 5 External links
Biography
Chapman was born Anna Vasil’yevna Kushchyenko in Volgograd, according to U.S. authorities, and her father was employed in the Russian embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. According to Chapman's British ex-husband, her father, Vasily Kushchenko, was also a senior KGB official, although this is unsubstantiated.
London: 2001–2006
Chapman moved to London in 2000/1, working at NetJets, Barclays Bank and allegedly at a few other companies for brief periods.
She met Alex Chapman at a London Docklands rave party in 2001 and they married shortly thereafter in Moscow; as a result she gained dual Russian-British citizenship, and a British passport. After Anna was arrested in New York, Alex engaged media publicist Max Clifford, and sold his story to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
New York: 2006–2010
She took up residence at 20 Exchange Place, one block from Wall Street in Manhattan.Alex has stated that Anna told him the enterprise was continually in the red for the first couple of years, and then suddenly in 2009, she had as many as 50 employees and a successful business Her LinkedIn social networking site profile identified her as CEO of PropertyFinder LLC, a website selling real estate internationally.
She is reported to have been dating Michel Bittan, a prominent New York restaurant owner. She later described her time in the US with the Charles Dickens quote, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times".
Russia: 2010–present
Late December 2010 Chapman was appointed to the public council of Young Guard of United Russia.According to the organization she "will be engaged in educating young people.
On 21 January 2011, Chapman began hosting a weekly TV show in Russia called Secrets of the World for REN (TV channel).
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman