The US Justice Department Thursday unsealed an indictment charging a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen with acting and conspiring to act in the US as an unregistered agent of Egypt.

Pierre Girgis is a 39-year-old resident of Manhattan. He is alleged to have acted as an agent of the Egyptian government from approximately 2014 to 2019. During this time, he allegedly tracked and obtained information about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s political opponents in the US. He also used his connections within US law enforcement to obtain non-public information, arranged benefits for Egyptian officials in Manhattan, and coordinated meetings between the US and Egyptian law enforcement. He is also accused of attempting to arrange for Egyptian officials to attend US police training.

US Attorney Damian Williams alleged that Girgis failed to register as a foreign agent as required by law. He noted that the registry laws are “critically important to ensuring that our government is not secretly influenced by foreign governments.” Assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen said that the Justice Department would not allow foreign agents to collect information about critics of their governments and said that this indictment is just the beginning of holding Girgis accountable.

Girgis is charged with one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which has a maximum sentence of ten years.