A former FBI agent and CIA analyst has pleaded guilty to secretly accessing restricted government files, including files on an ongoing investigation into the terrorist group Hezbollah.

Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Detroit on November 13, 2007, to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., accessing unauthorized computer files and naturalization fraud. Prouty, a Lebanese national, admitted to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship in order to work for the FBI and CIA, and to secretly searching restricted FBI databases.

Prouty first entered the U.S. from Lebanon in 1989 on a student visa, and a year later paid U.S. citizen Chris Deladurantaye to enter into a false marriage so she could gain U.S. citizenship, according to court documents.  Prouty divorced Deladurantaye in 1995, a year after she gained citizenship. 

While attending school in Detroit, Prouty worked at a La Shish restaurant owned by Talal Chahine, currently a fugitive wanted in the U.S. on five counts of income tax evasion and funneling more than $20 million in cash to individuals in Lebanon.  Prouty's sister, Elfat El Aouar, is married to Chahine and is serving an 18-month sentence for aiding her husband in his tax evasion scheme.  Aouar reportedly attended a fundraising event in Lebanon in 2002, where Chahine and Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a top Hezbollah spiritual leader based in Lebanon and U.S.-designated global terrorist, were the keynote speakers.

In 2000, while employed as a special agent of the FBI, Prouty accessed the FBI computerized Automated Case Support computer system to obtain restricted information on herself, Aouar and Chahine.  In 2003, Prouty used the same system to access information on a national security investigation on Hezbollah, according to the plea agreement.

Some authorities reportedly suspect that Prouty was a mole and passed along information to Chahine, who may have forwarded the information to Hezbollah.  Other authorities, including several CIA officers, believe that Prouty accessed files simply to look out for her sister, because of her husband's alleged involvement with Hezbollah. 

Prouty left the FBI and joined the CIA as an analyst in 2003.  She resigned from the CIA as part of her plea agreement.

The plea agreement recommends that Prouty face a prison sentence of six to 12 months and pay a maximum fine of $250,000.  As a result of her guilty plea, Prouty's U.S. citizenship has been automatically revoked.