FBI translator Daniela Greene, 38, was tasked with investigating Denis Cuspert, a German-born former rapper whose career had changed to that of a bloodthirsty ISIS jihadist. However, she Fell In Love with the man instead and married him. It might sound a little like the plot of a television show – “Homeland” comes to mind – but it happened in real life.
According to CNN, Cuspert had been seen on several execution videos, showing off the ISIS penchant for savagery, including footage which showed him holding severed heads. Even though Greene had watched those videos, at some time back in 2014 she fell in love with the ISIS terrorist, despite his brutal background, leaving her husband in the U.S.
to join Cuspert in war-torn Syria. She then lied to the FBI about her whereabouts.
Greene tasked with investigating ISIS terrorist
The story goes back to around three years after Greene joined the FBI, when she was assigned to the Detroit Bureau of Investigation in January 2014 and handled the task of investigating Cuspert. Reportedly by June that year she had already fallen for the terrorist and made plans to meet the ISIS terrorist in Syria. The couple was then married sometime later that month.
It seems the FBI translator eventually realized her mistake. It turns out she had been in touch with an unnamed person in the U.S. and had emailed them to say she was having second thoughts about the whole situation.
In one email she said she was weak and that she couldn’t handle things anymore, admitting she had made a real mess of things. She fled Syria and arrived back in the U.S. in August 2014, where she was immediately taken into custody.
Court documents: Rogue FBI employee married ISIS terrorist: https://t.co/TjT6l6HZpV pic.twitter.com/aAzoJrMcZF
— ABC 7 News - WJLA (@ABC7News) May 2, 2017
Full cooperation by the FBI translator
Reportedly after Greene was arrested, she offered to fully cooperate with the authorities.
Greene pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2014 regarding international terrorism. She was then jailed and released from prison back in August 2016 after serving a relatively short two-year sentence. She now reportedly works as a hostess in a hotel lounge.
As reported by the New York Post, many say Greene got off easy, especially when compared to other Americans who have been prosecuted for crimes relating to ISIS.
Reportedly a study run by Fordham University in 2016 found such people normally receive an average sentence of 13½ years behind bars. However, it seems her willingness to cooperate with authorities ultimately gave her a lighter sentence.
FBI translator married #ISIS terrorist she was investigating https://t.co/zPmuD4ahyO pic.twitter.com/EhD2nsOv3J
— RT America (@RT_America) May 2, 2017
As for Cuspert, Pentagon officials reportedly released a statement back in October 2015 to the effect that the ISIS terrorist had been killed during an airstrike. However, that statement was later corrected to say he had survived.
The ISIS terrorist was known under his rapper guise in Germany as Deso Dogg. He was infamous for terror-related rap songs including lyrics where Cuspert praised Osama bin Laden and rapped about killing then U.S.
President Barack Obama. In Syria, he was known as “The German” or Abu Talha al-Almani. He is believed to still be somewhere in ISIS-held Syria.
According to CNN, Greene’s story has only recently come to light, after it was finally unsealed by the Justice Department.The documents were reportedly only unsealed after Greene completed her cooperation with the FBI.
Her lawyer, Shawn Moore, a former assistant federal public defender, said Greene was a well-meaning person who got into something way over her head.
More information about the case can be heard in the video included below.