Ex-State Department Analyst Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $650K

Levita Almuete Ferrer, a former senior budget analyst at the U.S. State Department, pleaded guilty to embezzling over $650,000 between March 2022 and April 2024. Ferrer, 64, misused her authority to write 63 checks—60 to herself and three to a person she had a relationship with—totaling $657,347.50. To conceal the theft, she used QuickBooks to list her name as the payee, printed the checks, then altered the payee name to legitimate vendors before depositing them. She faces up to 10 years in prison and has agreed to repay the full amount.

In a separate incident, a Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s security detail was arrested in Brussels for unruly behavior at Hotel Amigo. The agent clashed with hotel staff and police after being denied after-hours service. Though released the same day after U.S. Embassy intervention, sources cited extreme overwork as a contributing factor.

Rubio, a key Trump Cabinet member, was not present during the incident but later stayed at the same hotel for a NATO summit.