This article reports on a federal indictment accusing Maryland State Senator Dalya Attar, her brother, and a Baltimore police officer of secretly recording two people during an intimate encounter and using that footage to threaten and silence them. The indictment claims conspiracy, extortion, illegal wiretapping and Travel Act violations, and it lays out a pattern of harassment and intimidation tied to political rivalry. Prosecutors say the scheme involved hidden cameras, encrypted messages, and direct threats intended to suppress criticism ahead of an election. The allegations raise serious questions about abuse of power, law enforcement involvement, and accountability for public officials.
Federal prosecutors unsealed a 20-page indictment that names Dalya Attar, her brother Joseph “Yossi” Attar, and Baltimore Police Officer Kalman Finkelstein as defendants. The charges include conspiracy, extortion, and illegal wiretapping, among others, and claim the trio secretly filmed two critics during an intimate encounter. According to the indictment, the recording was deployed as a blunt instrument to intimidate people who challenged Attar politically.
One of the targets is described as a former campaign consultant who had worked for Attar’s 2018 campaign before backing her rivals, and the other is identified as Victim 2, a romantic partner who was married to someone else at the time. Prosecutors say the political motive is clear: the recording was used to keep these critics quiet and prevent them from speaking out during Attar’s re-election efforts. That mix of personal invasion and political calculation is at the heart of the charges.
The indictment details how the defendants allegedly placed hidden cameras disguised as smoke detectors and even installed a tracking device in the victims’ apartment to capture private moments. Prosecutors say the perpetrators reviewed footage that showed the pair in bed together and then used that material to threaten exposure. If true, it’s a chilling example of weaponizing personal privacy to gain political advantage.
The unsealed documents include what prosecutors say are encrypted WhatsApp exchanges that make the intent plain. One message reads, “We have a very easy…simple way to get her to just shut up and leave us alone… She’s worried about her kids’ shidduchim.” Another message states, “I’m not saying we leak this anywhere or ever do that… but I’m saying we warn her… if you go ahead and screw with me, we’re going to leak it.” Those lines, if authentic, show a calculated effort to exploit social pressures within a tight-knit community as leverage.
Prosecutors describe a December 2021 confrontation in a Baltimore shopping center where Joseph Attar allegedly confronted one victim and repeated the threat in even starker terms. He is quoted in the indictment saying, “I have hours of footage of you in bed with [Victim 1]… Go to [Victim 1] and say leave Dalya alone… or I’ll share this video with everyone you know — every Rabbi in town, your kids, your wife, her daughters.” That alleged exchange, delivered face to face, underscores how the intimidation moved beyond messages into real-world coercion.
The indictment says threats and coordination continued into 2022 as the defendants worked to keep both victims silent in the run-up to Attar’s re-election campaign, and that they used encrypted WhatsApp threads which they routinely deleted. The charges carry potential decades behind bars, reflecting the seriousness of conspiracy and extortion tied to political aims. Attar’s office did not respond to requests for comment, according to prosecutors.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told local media that Officer Finkelstein has been on administrative duty since 2022 and no longer holds police powers. Attar, a Democrat and former Baltimore prosecutor, was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2018 and appointed to the state Senate in January 2025, and she had been viewed as a rising figure in Maryland’s Orthodox Jewish community. These allegations, if proven, strike at the core of public trust and demand a thorough, impartial investigation to determine accountability and protect the privacy and rights of citizens.
