Anna Chapman, Russian Spy, Allegedly 'Got Close' To Obama's Inner Circle

Was one of Obama's inner-circle officials on the brink of being seduced by a sexy Russian spy?

UPDATE at 5:45pm ET: It seems unlikely.

A report earlier this week by The Independent described a "honey trap" allegedly being run by Russian spy Anna Chapman. FBI head of counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi was quoted as saying that the spy ring was "getting close enough to a sitting US cabinet member that we thought we could no longer allow this to continue." The FBI later clarified to HuffPost, "There is no allegation or suggestion in the complaint that Anna Chapman or anyone else associated with this investigation attempted to seduce a U.S. Cabinet official.”

It appears that there may have been several degrees of separation between Chapman and any high-ranking US leader. A criminal complaint from the 2010 investigation points to a different alleged spy, Cynthia Murphy, instead of Chapman. Her alleged "target" was a "prominent New York-based financier" who was "a personal friend of" a Cabinet official. The complaint describes the nature of Murphy's relationship as "work-related personal meetings." Hardly the stuff of James Bond intrigue.

Read the original story below:

In a recent interview with the BBC, one of the FBI's top brass suggested that redheaded beauty Anna Chapman—a Russian agent sent home in 2010 as part of the biggest spy swap since the Cold War—was "close enough [to the administration's inner-circle] to disturb" the FBI, according to head of counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi.

According to Figliuzzi, the spy ring was "getting close enough to a sitting US cabinet member that we thought we could no longer allow this to continue," although he would not identify the official in question. Chapman, who allegedly worked undercover in Manhattan real estate, was arrested on June 27, 2010.

Chapman's return to Russia didn't thwart her star power. In October 2010 she became the face of a Moscow bank and in January 2011 she appeared in Playboy.

Just last month, she trotted down the runway in what resembled an all-black spy suit for the second year in a row at Russian Fashion Week .

Earlier on HuffPost:

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• Russian Anna Chapman, who was deported from the U.S. on charges of espionage, displays a creations by I Love Fashion, France, during Fall-Winter 2012 - 2013 collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

• A stylist, left, makes-up Anna Chapman, center, who was deported from the U.S. on charges of espionage, preparing to display a creations by I Love Fashion, France, during Fall-Winter 2012 - 2013 collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

• This file picture taken on December 22, 2010, shows Anna Chapman, a former Russian spy, at a congress of pro-Kremlin youth group Molodaya Gvardiya (The Young Guard) in Moscow. The seductive redhead celebrity spy opened up to Russians in a primetime talk show on state television, describing herself as a 'good shot' and even enjoying a reunion with her first love. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

• Former Russian spy Anna Chapman smiles as she arrives for a congress from a pro-Kremlin youth group Molodaya Gvardiya (The Young Guard) in Moscow, on December 22, 2010. A pro-Kremlin youth group will on Wednesday elect seductive Russian spy Anna Chapman to a top role in the organisation, reports said. Chapman, booted out of the United States along with nine other Russian spies in July, will likely become head of the social council of the Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard) youth group, a source in the group told RIA Novosti. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

• Former Russian spy Anna Chapman attends a meeting of the commission on economic modernization and technological development of the Russian economy at Skolkovo Innovation Centre outside Moscow. Chapman was at the center of the biggest spy crisis between the United States and Russia since the Cold War as one of the US-based 'sleeper' agents who in July were exchanged in a dramatic spy swap. (SERGEI KARPUKHIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• Former Russian spy Anna Chapman looks on after a meeting of the commission on economic modernization and technological development of the Russian economy at Skolkovo Innovation Centre outside Moscow. Chapman was at the center of the biggest spy crisis between the United States and Russia since the Cold War as one of the US-based 'sleeper' agents who in July were exchanged in a dramatic spy swap. (SERGEI KARPUKHIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• Russian spy Anna Chapman (L) attends a farewell ceremony for the International Space Station (ISS) crew including Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and US astronaut Scott Kelly before a Russian Soyuz TMA-01M rocket blasts off from Russian leased Kazakh Baikonur cosmodrome on October 8, 2010. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

• A man reads Russian 'Tvoi den' ('Your day') newspaper with new Anna Chapman pictures in Moscow on August 27, 2010. Flame-haired and squeezed into a body-hugging cocktail dress, Russian spy Anna Champan has emerged from the shadows in an erotic photo-shoot and walked straight into a new scandal, reports said Friday. The glamorous Chapman, 28, was at the centre of the biggest spy crisis between the United States and Russia since the Cold War as one of the US-based 'sleeper' agents who last month were exchanged in a dramatic spy swap. (DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

• New York newspapers are on display featuring personal photos of suspected Russian spies Anna Chapman (L) and Richard and Cynthia Murphy at a news stand in New York, June 30, 2010. Russia and the United States sought to cool a heated scandal sparked by the arrest of 11 suspected Kremlin spies, amid fears the Cold War-style furore could harm improving ties. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Comments

[thursdaychild]

11:57 PM on 05/07/2012

I'd send spies to the U.S., too, if I were in another country. The U.S. administration is damned scary. We have met the enemy and he is us.

[Justright7]

10:19 PM on 04/08/2012

Russia doesn't need spies anymore. Obama hates America so much that he is going to sell us all down the river after the elections (in the small chance he gets re-elected).

[sallybutt45]

08:57 AM on 04/05/2012

I am almost positive that one of our "spies" probably shared a bed with Putin, it's the spy world people!

[PlayTOE]

08:55 AM on 04/05/2012

insider scoop ..
She told the New York financier she was totally OK with his strange hair..
He told her that Obama's birth certificate was an issue.

(all true, you can't make this stuff up .. really ... )

[shipcaptain]

08:46 AM on 04/05/2012

It could not have been Rove, as Rove is a closeted gay.

[Donns]

07:56 AM on 04/05/2012

I wish I had been young and had some knowledge to sell, I would have been easy for her.

[grizzly bear55]

07:51 AM on 04/05/2012

I think she was a decoy for the real spies, she was too obvious , at least got the FBI tracking her and let the real ones slip and accomplish their work.

[jflorish]

08:23 AM on 04/05/2012

Yeah your incredible facts that "you think she was a decoy" surely backs this up. lol

[taylor5]

07:24 AM on 04/05/2012

They probably sent young men to entice the bush inner circle.

[jflorish]

08:23 AM on 04/05/2012

She was probably under Clintons desk.

[dui]

01:37 PM on 04/05/2012

She called AlbertArnoldGore a sexpoodle

[taylor5]

07:22 AM on 04/05/2012

I would have been seduced. She is fine

[SCboy]

05:32 AM on 04/05/2012

Someone trying to seduce someone in Washington, DC. Gosh.

[saintpeterclan]

05:30 AM on 04/05/2012

The Stasi archives indicated that Russian spies were in the halls of our Congress working for the dems...why should this be any surprise?

[The Mighty Cynic]

02:03 AM on 04/05/2012

i deed her

[lonbwoy]

02:01 AM on 04/05/2012

when does the movie come out?

[Ry Bread]

08:43 PM on 04/04/2012

You would think, with all of the sexy women in Russia, they could have chosen a sexier girl then this one. The only thing that makes here stand out is that bright red hair. :P

[cincinnati]

05:23 AM on 04/05/2012

6.5 of 10 ?

the one's with some Asian in their eyes
are often 8+

[Ry Bread]

06:10 AM on 04/05/2012

6.5 is a fair assessment :P

[Donns]

07:57 AM on 04/05/2012

She's a 2. (I work on the Budweiser scale, it would take 2 of them bloody great Clydesdales to drag me off her)

[jflorish]

08:24 AM on 04/05/2012

I agree with that, she's ok ... thats about it.

[wilddogg]

08:15 PM on 04/04/2012

Mata Hari lives!!