Former government official charged with falsely implicating colleagues in Jan. 6 attack
Federal prosecutors have charged a former government employee with falsely accusing seven colleagues — many of whom held security clearances and at least some of whom worked in the intelligence community — of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Investigators say Miguel Zapata used “burner” emails to submit anonymous tips to an FBI tipline about seven ex-colleagues, causing the bureau to investigate and interview many of them. Agents pursuing the tips verified that none of the seven were in Washington that day and confirmed they were working during the hours of the attack.
“These tips variously alleged that the government employees and contractors were physically present at or involved in the attack at the Capitol or had shared classified information with individuals and groups present at the riot with the intent to assist these groups in overthrowing the United States government,” according to the charging documents.
The description of Zapata’s alleged offenses, signed by a special agent of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration who is assigned to the task force investigating Jan. 6 crimes, doesn’t indicate which agency Zapata previously worked with but noted that his anonymous email account — which was traced back to his employer’s servers — conducted searches related to the intelligence community’s inspector general. Several former colleagues are identified as having relationships with intelligence agencies.
The filings also note that Zapata had to affirm before submitting the FBI tips that he understood providing false information could result in criminal charges.
According to the charging documents, Zapata submitted his first two false tips on Feb. 11, 2021, accusing two former colleagues of participating in the riots. The tips included “their full names, ages, parts of their addresses, current employers, and security clearance levels.” Investigators interviewed both and confirmed they were working in Virginia during the attack.
Prosecutors say Zapata submitted two additional false tips on Feb. 16, 2021, including one that accused a former intelligence community contractor of accessing “classified Agency resources to foment terror and incite violence by sharing this information with other conspiracy theory-based personalities.”
Prosecutors allege that Zapata submitted an additional false tip on Feb. 17, 2021, and another two on April 11, 2021, accusing his ex-colleagues of using their access to classified information to foment insurrection and help anti-government groups breach the Capitol.
