The Wall Street Journal identified the BuzzFeed News reporter as Jason Leopold. Edwards allegedly sent Leopold internal FinCEN emails, investigative memos and intelligence assessments, and the two were in regular contact.[10]The New York Times characterized Edwards' case as procedurally different from that of James Wolfe, even though both cases involved leaking to reporters.[11]
Edwards pled guilty in 2020, with a maximum sentence of up to five years.[12][13]
In June 2021, she was sentenced to serve six months in prison and three years of supervised release, [14] a sentence on the higher end of the relevant federal sentencing guidelines. Throughout her sentencing hearing, Edwards maintained that she was acting as a whistleblower and that she did not disclose the suspicious activity report, with malicious intent.[7][15][16][17] Her counsel argued that she had gone through whistleblower channels and disclosed information only after she had been the subject of retaliation and believed that disclosing the information to the media would "help the American people", while prosecutors argued that "there has never been any substantive evidence of her claims" that she went through the proper internal channels and that Edwards lacked remorse for her decision to leak confidential information.[7][15][16][17]
^Emily Flitter (October 17, 2018). "Treasury Official Charged With Leaking Bank Reports to Journalist". The New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2020. James A. Wolfe, denies that he distributed classified materials, and the Justice Department has not charged him with leaking information. The case against Dr. Edwards is different. Disclosing suspicious activity reports to anyone who is unauthorized to see them is against the law, and the reports seldom — if ever — make their way into the public domain. When questioned by investigators, Dr. Edwards did not deny having shared them
