Maryland Sen. Dalya Attar (D-District 41), her brother Joseph “Yossi” Attar and Baltimore Police Officer Kalman Finklestein all pleaded not guilty on Nov. 24 to federal charges alleging a multi-year conspiracy to surveil, blackmail and extort a consultant who worked for the politician’s campaign during the 2018 election cycle.
According to the indictment, the trio used tracking devices to illegally surveil the former campaign consultant and later used cameras disguised as smoke detectors to record an intimate encounter while threatening to release the video.
Attar, a former prosecutor and the first Orthodox Jewish woman ever elected to the House of Delegates, refuted the charges in a since-deleted post to the Baltimore Scoop alleging that she was the victim of a six-year extortion and harassment “nightmare” and that both she and her family were threatened.
“The video in question was taken publicly, which is legal and cannot be the subject of an extortion charge. That’s it. Feeling desperate to protect my family, the message was conveyed to the woman that we had a legally obtained video and the six yearlong harassment campaign must stop,” read the social media statement posted on Oct. 31. “I met with this woman to plead with her to leave me and my family alone. Instead, the woman went to law enforcement and falsely accused me and my family of illegally recording them and attempting to extort them for money—all lies.”
Attar was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2018 and was appointed to the Maryland Senate following the resignation of Sen. Jill P. Carter (D) in January of this year.
Attar and Black nationalist activist Ayo Kimathi have both filed for the office, and Del. Malcolm Ruff (D-District 41) has announced his intent to run for the seat.
While Finkelstein has been suspended from active policing duties since 2022, Attar continues to serve in the state senate and thus far, legislative leaders are awaiting further information on the indictment.
“This is the first we have been made aware of state senator Dayla Attar’s arrest and we don’t have any additional information to provide at this time,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-District 46) in a statement released shortly after the indictment was made public. “The Senate of Maryland holds its members to the highest ethical standards as we serve our constituents, and we will continue to do so as we learn more about the alleged facts in the indictment.”