Democrat Maryland State Senator Indicted for Extortion of Critic – Liberty Nation News
**Maryland State Senator Dalya Attar Indicted in Secret Recording and Extortion Scheme**
A Maryland Democrat State Senator, Dalya Attar, has been accused of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to secretly record her former political campaign consultant—who had become a vocal critic—in bed with a married man. The plan allegedly aimed to silence the former ally from criticizing Attar during her 2020 re-election campaign for the Maryland House of Delegates.
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### Messy Politics in Maryland
Senator Dalya Attar, alongside her brother Joseph Attar and Baltimore Police Officer Kalman Finkelstein, has been indicted on multiple charges. These include one count each of conspiracy and illegal wiretapping, two counts of extortion, and four counts of violations of the Travel Act.
The unsealed 20-page federal indictment reads like a dramatic tale involving betrayal, revenge, adultery, bribery, and a ruthless thirst for power. The victims involved remain unnamed.
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### The Alleged Conspiracy
Prosecutors allege that Attar orchestrated a plan involving her brother, Finkelstein, and up to four unnamed co-conspirators to secretly install two recording devices disguised as smoke detectors in the apartment of her former consultant. In addition, they placed a tracking device on the consultant’s vehicle.
The consultant, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, had her travel itinerary seemingly known to Finkelstein, who contacted her via WhatsApp while she was in Israel.
In a startling detail, the consultant was reportedly a friend of Finkelstein’s wife, had babysat their children, driven a relative’s car, and stayed in a relative’s apartment.
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### Timeline and Communications
According to the indictment, the conspiracy took place between January 2020 and July 2022. Text and WhatsApp messages among Senator Attar, her brother, and Finkelstein reveal efforts to silence the consultant, who had criticized Attar publicly on social media.
One message from Attar stated:
> “Because I believe she is building things up… when it’s the right time for her (close to re-election) it’ll come out… And even more reason why the lady should be afraid to come out with anything at any point.”
Later, Joseph Attar messaged in a WhatsApp group, saying:
> “She’s [sic] in the house now,” and shortly thereafter, “We have a visitor…”
By March 2021, Attar pressed the group to confront the consultant, referred to as Victim 1 in the indictment:
> “[Victim 1] needs to be warned before mailers to the Jewish Community start coming out about things I’ve voted on in the last 3 years… She wants her daughters to get married more than she wants to screw me… There’s the perfect way to scare her regarding shidduchim. Each mailer can do a lot of damage. We have a way that can potentially stop her.”
The term *shidduchim* refers to a matchmaking system for marriage within Orthodox Jewish communities.
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### Threats of Blackmail
The group allegedly threatened to release a video of the consultant and a second victim, Victim 2, in bed together. The threat aimed to damage the consultant’s daughters’ marriage prospects in the Orthodox Jewish community if she continued to criticize Attar or support her election opponents.
In December 2021, Joseph Attar reportedly met with Victim 2 in a Baltimore shopping center and said:
> “I have hours of footage of you in bed with [Victim 1]…the only thing you need to do is very simple—tell [Victim 1] to leave Dalya alone, don’t bring her up… Or I’ll share this video with everybody you know, everyone she knows.”
Included in the threatened audience were Attar’s children, relatives, every local Rabbi, and the consultant’s daughters.
Joseph Attar allegedly showed Victim 2 the recorded video on his cellphone and later asked whether both victims would comply. Victim 2 reportedly replied, “She has no intention of harming her in any way either. You have everything you asked for.”
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### Ongoing Threats and Political Pressure
Threats continued into 2022. On April 8, after the consultant criticized certain delegates via social media, Attar reportedly wrote in a group chat:
> “I personally like the idea of [Joseph Attar] physically showing the video to [Finkelstein’s wife] because it will obviously get back to [Victim 1]… I don’t care at this point. I just care about it getting back to [Victim 1] and that she understands that we’re serious.”
In June 2022, Joseph Attar sent at least 13 threatening messages to Victim 1 while she was in Israel, threatening to show the video to her family, including her daughters, son-in-law, and mother. One message dared:
> “Put me to the test, I dare you.”
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### Current Status and Responses
Since 2022, Officer Kalman Finkelstein has been on administrative leave, according to reports from FOX45 Baltimore. Dalya Attar served in the Maryland House of Delegates from January 2019 to January 2023, and was subsequently appointed to the Maryland Senate. During much of the alleged conspiracy, she worked as an assistant state’s attorney in Baltimore’s State’s Attorney Office until around September 2022.
On October 30, a Baltimore judge ordered Attar to surrender her passport and restricted her travel to within Maryland, according to the Baltimore Banner.
Through her attorney, Attar issued a statement denying knowledge of any illegal actions:
> “The case centers on the allegations of my former disgruntled employee. We have yet to see any tangible evidence to support the claim that I knew of any illegal actions taken on my behalf.”
As of now, it remains unclear whether the video evidence was ever released publicly.
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This unfolding case sheds light on a complex and troubling intersection of politics, personal relationships, and alleged criminal activity within Maryland’s political landscape. Further updates are expected as the legal process continues.
https://www.libertynation.com/democrat-maryland-state-senator-indicted-for-extortion-of-critic/
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