A Russian woman who was charged with lying to the FBI about her ties to Russia’s main intelligence agency — and then drunk-texted an FBI agent while out on bail — has pleaded guilty.
Nomma Zarubina changed her plea on February 19, according to federal court filings, about two months after a judge revoked her bail for repeatedly messaging an FBI agent and ordered held in jail.
In addition to pleading guilty to the lying charge, she also admitted to a second charge related to her immigration status, court filings showed.
“Zarubina’s intentional concealment of her misconduct and her lies about her affiliation with Russian intelligence were an affront to law enforcement’s national-security efforts,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Her defense lawyer did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.
Zarubina was initially charged in December 2024 after being interviewed multiple times by FBI agents beginning in October 2020.
FBI Investigation
A native of the Siberian city of Tomsk, Zarubina moved to the United States in 2016 and built up a network of professional and personal connections among Russian emigre groups, as well as at American think tanks and activist organizations.
She was first approached by federal agents several weeks after the FBI searched the Manhattan apartment of another Russian woman, Elena Branson, and seized dozens of computers and other electronic devices.
Branson, who fled to Russia shortly after the raid, was later charged with being an unregistered foreign agent.
According to FBI affidavits, Zarubina allegedly lied about her communications with two officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) who had guided her networking, identifying people and organizations she was supposed to contact.
After being charged, Zarubina was released on bail.
However, in the months after, she allegedly sent scores of e-mails and photographs to FBI agents who had been interviewing her — sometimes in the dead of the night.
Prosecutors, and her defense lawyer, told a federal court that Zarubina had a drinking problem, and she was ordered to seek mental health counseling.
In November 2025, a judge revoked her bail and ordered that she be sent to jail, pending trial.
Her sentencing is set for June.
