Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber was found dead in her home on Saturday, 22 March. However, the news of this death did not start to spread in the media until the following day. Many publications in Europe picked up the news only on Monday, and a wave of messages with the hashtag #jessicaaber appeared on social media, DW writes.
According to the outlet, many users expressed confusion over the fact that Aber's death coincided with the warming of relations between Washington and Moscow. As one of the manifestations of this warming, they cite not only, for example, joint votes at the UN on resolutions concerning Ukraine, but also the rhetoric of the Trump team regarding sanctions and fears expressed in the media that the new US president will stop funding a programme that helped return abducted Ukrainian children from Russia. Before Donald Trump came to power, Jessica Aber was a member of the US Department of Justice's team investigating Russia's war crimes in Ukraine. In addition, Aber led a number of proceedings on cybercrime and money laundering by Russians.
The prosecutor resigned in January, immediately after the change of power in Washington. Many of those spreading the news of her death on social media are focusing on her role in investigating Russian crimes.
Jessica Aber was regularly present at briefings by top US Department of Justice officials on the investigation of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and was personally responsible for one of the high-profile cases.
In December 2023, the Justice Department submitted to the court an indictment against four Russians suspected of kidnapping a US citizen in the occupied Kherson Region and torturing him for 10 days. To date, this case remains the only prosecution of Russians in the United States for war crimes in Ukraine, although there is no verdict in the case, as the defendants are beyond the reach of the US justice system.
‘We are proud to be at the forefront of the Department of Justice's efforts to bring to justice those who committed war crimes in Ukraine, and we will continue to pursue them,’ Aber said, presenting the indictment at the briefing.
One of the most recent high-profile federal cases prosecuted by Jessica Aber involved Russian cybercrime and money laundering totalling about a billion dollars. The case involved one of the largest illegal cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to the investigation, the exchange, set up by two Russian citizens, played a significant role in circumventing sanctions against individuals and legal entities imposed due to Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
Other high-profile cases investigated under Aber's leadership included a breach of state secrets by an official of the Central Bureau of Investigation, as well as the illegal transfer of US technology to sanctioned Russian companies, including those linked to the FSB and top officials in the Kremlin.
‘We cannot allow critical systems and technologies to be transferred to those who could use them against America and our global partners,’ said Aber in November 2024, commenting on the referral of the latest high-profile case with ‘Russian origins’ to the court.
Law enforcement officials promise to make public the forensic findings on the circumstances of Jessica Aber's death as soon as they become available. At the same time, on Monday, 24 March, the first reports appeared in the press, citing ‘sources in law enforcement’ regarding the cause of the former prosecutor's death. In particular, ABC News, citing informed sources in the Ministry of Justice, reported that the death was natural and was the result of a serious illness.