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What are the legal consequences for those involved in stealing Ashley Biden's diary?
Executive summary
Two Florida residents — Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander — pleaded guilty in 2022 to a federal conspiracy charge for stealing and trying to sell items including a diary belonging to Ashley Biden; prosecutors say they sold the diary to Project Veritas for $40,000 and the charge they admitted carries potential federal penalties (the sellers later faced sentencing, including a one‑month jail term for Harris) [1] [2] [3].
1. What defendants admitted and the federal charge
Harris and Kurlander admitted in Manhattan federal court that they participated in a scheme to steal personal property — including a handwritten diary — from a Delray Beach home and to transport and sell the material across state lines; they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, a federal felony [1] [4].
2. How the sale unfolded and the buyer named in reporting
Prosecutors say the two defendants sold the items to Project Veritas, a conservative activist group; reporting states the diary and other possessions were offered first to other actors, then sold for about $40,000, with each seller receiving roughly $20,000 [1] [5] [4].
3. Potential penalties and sentencing outcomes described in sources
Court papers and contemporaneous coverage note that the federal charge carries potential penalties including imprisonment; later reporting documents concrete punishment: Aimee Harris was sentenced in April 2024 to one month in jail, followed by home confinement and supervised release — and was ordered to forfeit proceeds — reflecting how prosecutors and judges calibrated punishment in this case [6] [2] [3].
4. Civil and investigative fallout beyond the defendants
The Justice Department investigated whether Project Veritas or its operatives played a role in obtaining the stolen materials; reporting describes seizures of phones from Project Veritas personnel and related civil proceedings in Manhattan federal court, but whether others were criminally charged remained uncertain in the public reporting [7] [4].
5. Victim identification and evidentiary notes in reporting
Although many stories and court papers connected the diary to Ashley Biden, some filings did not explicitly name her as the owner; later public statements and reporting, including Ashley Biden’s own letter to court in related matters and prosecutors’ descriptions, strengthened the public record that the diary belonged to President Biden’s daughter [4] [2] [8].
6. What sentences and penalties included beyond jail time
Reporting highlights that punishment in practice included short incarceration (Harris: one month), home confinement, supervised release, and forfeiture of sale proceeds; plea agreements required cooperation with investigators and surrender of the money received from the sale [5] [3] [2].
7. Competing perspectives and notable omissions
Project Veritas told some outlets it did not publish the diary because it could not verify authorship and arranged for law enforcement to receive the materials; at the same time, prosecutors portrayed the defendants as motivated by profit and a desire to harm a political campaign. The public reporting leaves open what, if any, additional criminal liability (beyond the two sellers) the organization or its operatives might face — available sources do not mention final criminal charges against Project Veritas personnel [7] [4] [1].
8. Context: timing, motive and political implications
Coverage stresses the timing (near the 2020 presidential election) and prosecutors’ contention that the theft was intended both to profit and to damage a political campaign; that framing shaped investigators’ interest and the later civil litigation and DOJ inquiry [4] [2].
9. How this case fits ordinary theft prosecutions
Legally, the core offense — conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines — is a standard federal charge applied when stolen goods cross state boundaries, and penalties can vary widely based on plea deals, cooperation, criminal history and judicial discretion; the outcome here (pleas, forfeiture, short jail term and supervised release) illustrates one prosecutorial resolution for nonviolent, politically sensitive thefts [1] [3].
10. Practical takeaways and limitations of reporting
The available reporting provides clear facts about the guilty pleas, the sale to Project Veritas, and Harris’s later sentence, but it does not establish that others were criminally charged beyond the two Florida residents — nor does it supply full courtroom transcripts or all charging decisions by DOJ. For allegations about involvement by additional parties, available sources do not mention subsequent criminal indictments of Project Veritas staff [7] [4].
If you want, I can compile a timeline of key filings and published articles from these sources (dates, plea entries, sentencing) to make the sequence clearer.