DOJ charges MD Sen. Dalya Attar, Baltimore cop with blackmail

The U.S. Department of Justice last week indicted Maryland state Sen. Dalya Attar, D- Baltimore City, on extortion and conspiracy charges, alleging that she spied on and conspired to blackmail a political consultant who had worked on a previous Attar campaign.

Attar, who represents Northwest Baltimore, was indicted in U.S. District Court along with her brother, Joseph Attar, and Kalman Finkelstein, a Baltimore City police officer.

The indictment alleges that the three coordinated on WhatsApp to spy on and blackmail Victim 1, a political consultant who worked on Attar’s 2018 campaign for the House of Delegates. Her involvement with the campaign ended after a “disagreement,” the indictment states.

Attar, her brother and Finkelstein set up recording devices that looked like smoke d