Former Arlington resident sentenced for accessing Justice Ginsberg’s health records
A former Arlington resident who illegally accessed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's health records was sentenced to two years in prison today (Thursday).
Trent Russell, 34, had faced up to 21 years in prison, according to The Washington Post , but he was expected to receive a lighter sentence due to being a first time offender.
A federal jury this summer found Russell guilty of illegally obtaining another person's health care information and destroying evidence in a federal investigation.
Russell used his status as an employee at an organ donation coordinator to access and screenshot Ginsberg's private medical data in January 2019, a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice says.
The justice's hospital chart later appeared on a conspiracy theorist message board and was distributed on social media. Investigations connected Russell to various antisemitic conspiracy theories posted on 4chan, according to the Post, but he was acquitted of publicly posting Ginsberg's records.
After learning that his access to health records had been disabled, Russell — who lived in Arlington at the time — reformatted his hard drive to "destroy and alter evidence to obstruct the investigation," the press release says. He later lied to federal agents, claiming his cellphone had been stolen, and provided them with a secondary hard drive instead of his primary operating system drive.
A complete press release on the sentencing is below.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal jury in Alexandria convicted an Arlington man today on charges of obtaining another person's healthcare information and destroying evidence in a federal investigation.
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, from 2017 to 2019, Trent James Russell, 34, was employed by an organ donation coordination entity, which allowed him access to certain electronic medical records. In Jan. 2019, Russell remotely accessed the medical records of a federal official and took a screenshot of the official's protected health information.
After Russell learned his access was disabled on Feb. 10, 2019, he reformatted his computer two days later in an attempt to destroy evidence and obstruct the investigation. When FBI agents interviewed Russell on Feb. 21, 2019, Russell falsely stated that his cellphone had been stolen.
Russell faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when sentenced on Nov. 7. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; David J. Scott, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Criminal and Cyber Division; and Maureen R. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff accepted the verdict.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zoe Bedell and Laura D. Withers are prosecuting the case.
