US court releases Ashley Tellis on $1.5 mn bond in espionage case

A Virginia court ordered the release of India-US strategic affairs expert Ashley Tellis pending trial, with strict conditions including passport surrender and electronic monitoring

A Virginia court on Thursday ordered the release of Indian-American scholar and strategic affairs expert Ashley Tellis pending trial in an espionage case filed against him by the US Department of Justice, after his defence counsel assured full cooperation with investigating agencies, the Times of India reported.

 

Tellis’ lawyers highlighted his lifelong “commitment to American national security” as part of their plea for bail.

Condtional release pending trial

Judge Lindsey Robinson Vaala of the Eastern District Court of Virginia granted Tellis conditional release but imposed several restrictions, including the surrender of his passport, travel limitations, restricted internet access, electronic monitoring, and supervision by pretrial services, the report said.

 

 

He was released on a $1.5 million secured bond, backed by his family’s home and co-signed by his wife, Dhun Tellis. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 4 this year. He faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted.  Tellis, 64, previously served on the National Security Council under former President George W Bush and is listed in an FBI court affidavit as an unpaid adviser to the US State Department and a Pentagon contractor. He is currently a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and is widely recognised as an expert on strategic affairs and US-India relations.

'Overzealous counterintelligence', say lawyers

The scholar was arrested just over a week ago on charges of unlawful retention of national defence information. Court documents allege that over a thousand pages of top secret and secret materials were found at his home during an FBI search.

 

In Thursday’s preliminary hearing, Tellis’ lawyers argued that his possession of classified documents was due to “scholarly curiosity” rather than espionage. They said the materials were routine work products from his advisory roles and were retained inadvertently because of his busy schedule.

 

The defence intends to contest the spying allegations, calling the case “overzealous counterintelligence” amid heightened US-China tensions over tariffs, rare earth materials, and technology, according to the Times of India.

 

Tellis’ lawyers also claimed that investigating officers had misinterpreted ordinary “liaison work and international travel” as “clandestine activity.” They also noted that his meeting with Chinese officials were only to be expected given his position as a foreign affairs expert, and that such meetings were also declared in his security clearance renewals. The FBI has suggested these meetings were an occasion to pass on classified information.

Deep ties to community

The defense team also underlined that Tellis was a low-flight risk, pointing to his 40-years-long residency in the US, his marriage to a US citizen, and adult children in the Washington D.C. area, as well as assets and community ties, the ToI report said. 

Who is Ashley Tellis?

Born in 1961 in Mumbai, Tellis earned his BA and MA in economics from St Xavier's College, Mumbai, affiliated with the University of Bombay. He later pursued further studies in the United States, completing both an MA and a PhD at the University of Chicago.

 

Tellis has held significant roles in both academia and government. He served as a senior adviser to the US Ambassador in New Delhi and worked on strategic planning for Southwest Asia while on the National Security Council staff during George W Bush’s presidency.

 

As a senior adviser to the US Department of State, he was instrumental in negotiating the US-India civil nuclear agreement. Prior to joining the government, Tellis was a senior policy analyst and professor of policy analysis at the RAND Graduate School. He is an active commentator on geopolitics.