The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged former FBI Director James Comey for a third time, alleging that he leaked a sensitive national security document to The New York Times in October 2016.

The allegations are contained in court records made public late on Oct. 26.

The records show that prosecutors filed a two-count criminal information against Comey on Oct. 5—exactly 10 years after the alleged conduct. The information charges him under the Espionage Act with transmitting national defense information to a person who was not entitled to receive it, and with conspiring to do so. There is no grand jury indictment yet.


In a written opinion, Washington-based U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted Comey’s request to unseal files in the criminal case against him. The DOJ did not object to unsealing the court docket. The order did not address Comey’s pending motion to dismiss, which argues that only a grand jury indictment—not a criminal information—can keep the case alive once the 10-year statute of limitations has run.

Charges under the Espionage Act generally must be brought within 10 years of the date of the alleged criminal act.

The DOJ said it filed the criminal information to toll—or extend—the statute ​of limitations on the offense that would otherwise have expired earlier this month.