Security News > 2023 > July > Florida man accused of hoarding America's secrets faces fresh charges

Federal prosecutors have expanded their criminal case against a famous Floridian and his loyal minions for allegedly mishandling national security secrets and not being forthright about the storage and handling of hundreds of classified documents.

The charges include: attempting to destroy evidence; attempting to induce others to destroy evidence; and a further Espionage Act violation related to the unlawful retention of a top secret document about Iran.

Indicted last month by US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, the six-time-bankrupt real estate mogul initially faced 37 counts related to inappropriate document retention and false statements.

His valet Waltine Nauta also was charged with six counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document, concealing a document, and scheming to conceal.

In the superseding indictment [PDF] just filed in a Florida federal court, US government prosecutors claim that the frequent golfer - who reportedly plays with an impressive handicap of just 2.5 - asked for the deletion of surveillance video depicting a time period when boxes of classified documents are alleged to have been moved to conceal them from investigators.

The Florida man, Nauta, and newly charged Carlos De Oliveira, manager of the magnate's private Mar-a-Lago resort, are alleged to have asked that an employee, the resort's IT director, "Delete security camera footage at the Mar-a-Lago Club to prevent the footage from being provided to a federal grand jury."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/07/29/florida_man_video_indictment/