Ashley Tellis To Contest Allegations Against Him

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC – Lawyers for Ashley Tellis, the prominent India scholar accused of retaining classified documents and meeting with Chinese officials, said on October 17 that he denies all charges against him.

“Ashley J. Tellis is a widely respected scholar and senior policy advisor,” his attorneys, Deborah Curtis and John Nassikas, said in a statement. “We will be vigorously contesting the allegations brought against him, particularly any suggestion that he acted on behalf of a foreign adversary.”

Tellis, 64, was arrested by the FBI last weekend and faces up to 10 years in prison. A former senior official in the George W. Bush administration, he also served as an unpaid advisor to the State Department.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where Tellis is a senior fellow, has placed him on administrative leave following the arrest.

Tellis played a key role in negotiating the Bush administration’s landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India, a deal that deepened ties between the two democracies. In recent years, however, he has been an outspoken critic of the Narendra Modi government.