A former special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was resentenced to time served Wednesday, following an emotional hearing in which she tearfully apologized for her actions – namely, informing a Syrian businessman, with whom prosecutors say she had a romantic relationship, that he was the subject of an FBI counterterrorism investigation.
“I’ve violated an oath that I took pride in, and unfortunately, I let that pride go in a different direction,” said Leatrice Malika De Bruhl-Daniels, who was convicted by a jury in 2022 of lying to investigators about her relationship with the businessman and accepting gifts from him while stationed in Dubai.
“Please, let me make it up to my family,” De Bruhl-Daniels pleaded to U.S. District Judge Gray Miller, who originally sentenced the former federal agent to nine years in prison. “Let me make it up to my granddaughters, one of whom I haven’t met yet.”
In resentencing De Bruhl-Daniels to three years of supervised release with ongoing mental health treatment, Judge Miller observed that she had shifted her tone from the six-day trial and now appeared to be taking full responsibility for her actions.
“The time she has spent in custody, already, I think, has been enough of a wake-up call in this case, and the punishment has been sufficient,” said Miller, a George W. Bush appointee. “Further punishment would have been unnecessary.”
The resentencing followed a ruling three months earlier when a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated three obstruction convictions against De Bruhl-Daniels and directed Miller to “reweigh” her sentence in light of the remaining nine counts on which she had been convicted. The appeals court followed a Supreme Court decision last year that clarified the scope of obstruction charges under federal law.
The long-running case, prosecuted by Alamdar Hamdani before he became the U.S. Attorney for Texas’ Southern District, dates back to 2016 when De Bruhl-Daniels was stationed at the U.S. consulate in Dubai. While there, she met Nadal Diya, a Syrian businessman who, according to the Fifth Circuit ruling, was the subject of at least three federal investigations.
One investigation from 2013 uncovered that Diya and a business associate were funneling oilfield equipment from the United States and Iran. Another, launched by the FBI in 2014, found Diya’s Guatemalan passport was counterfeit. The FBI, as part of a counterterrorism investigation, also suspected Diya of supplying ambulances to the Islamic State, which the U.S. government considers a foreign terrorist organization.
In June 2016, De Bruhl-Daniels had dinner at Diya’s home and requested her help with his visa application to reenter the United States. According to prosecutors, De Bruhl-Daniels agreed to look into the matter after Diya indicated he would be willing to work for the U.S. government.
Bruhl-Daniels later told her colleagues that Diya could potentially be developed as an intelligence source. However, they warned her to avoid further contact with him due to his suspected ties with terrorism, according to the Fifth Circuit ruling.
Despite these warnings, De Bruhl-Daniels continued spending time with Diya and eventually began a romantic relationship with him, according to prosecutors. Their interactions included time spent on his yacht and private meals together. She also made several requests, including asking Diya to give her son a job, pay for a trip to Greece, and host her a birthday party at his house.
According to the Fifth Circuit ruling, in June 2017, De Bruhl-Daniels met with Diya on a beach and instructed him to leave his phone in his vehicle in case it was being monitored. During this meeting, De Bruhl-Daniels also informed Diya that he was the target of an FBI counterterrorism investigation and would be arrested if he returned to the United States.
When agents assigned to the counterterrorism investigation later met with De Bruhl-Daniels to inquire about Diya she denied disclosing the investigation to him. However, that same evening, she met with Diya and helped him prepare for his interview with federal agents the next day.
De Bruhl-Daniels was subsequently promoted to a position as a security advisor to four-star admirals and assigned to Hawaii. However, her assignment was revoked when an internal FBI memo raised concerns about her integrity. She later admitted to an NCIS mentor that she had told Diya about the investigation and confirmed it during a meeting with NCIS agents, according to prosecutors.
In March 2020, Diya pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents. In return for his plea, prosecutors dismissed a separate charge for the same offense, and Miller sentenced Diya to time served, approximately 17 months after his arrest.
De Bruhl-Daniels, who is in her early to mid-50s, is expected to be released from federal custody Wednesday evening, according to officials. A half-dozen of her family members let out sighs of relief and struggled to contain tears of happiness when Miller announced his decision that morning.
Phillip Gallagher, the federal public defender representing De Bruhl-Daniels, declined to comment.
“Good luck to you,” Miller said to De Bruhl-Daniels before stepping down from the bench on the eighth floor of the federal courthouse in downtown Houston.
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