Russian American charged with acting as spy

A Russian American woman has been charged with illegally operating as a spy for a foreign government while in the United States.

Prosecutors filed a complaint Tuesday with Judge Sarah Netburn of the Southern District of New York in which they charged 61-year-old Elena Branson, otherwise known as Elena Chernykh, with illegally acting as a Russian agent and failing to register as a foreign operative. Additionally, she is charged with conspiring to commit visa fraud and providing false statements to agents from the FBI, the filing read.