A Democratic state senator from Maryland is being accused of putting together a sleazy blackmail scheme to record two outspoken critics, including a former campaign consultant, in bed with each other without their knowledge or consent. According to a brand new unsealed federal indictment, the footage was used to threaten the pair into silence.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Maryland State Sen. Dalya Attar, working with her brother Joseph “Yossi” Attar, and Baltimore Police Officer Kalman Finkelstein, recorded the couple being intimate and used the video to silence their open criticism of Attar. The consultant, referred to as Victim 1 in the document, worked for Attar’s campaign in 2018, but had a change of heart and later supported her opponents. Victim 2, who was engaged in a romantic relationship with Victim 1, was married to someone else at the time, according to court documents.
The defendants, according to court documents, used fake smoke detectors to hide cameras inside the victims’ apartment, along with a tracking device, later watching the footage, which showed the two individuals in bed together. They then used the footage of the two to threaten them not to speak against Attar in public or express support for her political rivals.
Attar wrote a WhatsApp message in 2021 concerning how to stop public criticism, saying, “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.” She then allegedly said, “I[‘m not saying we leak this anywhere or ever do that…but I’m saying we warn her…’If you ahead and screw with me, we’re going to leak it.”
According to prosecutors, the sick and twisted plot continued well into 2022 as the defendants worked to make sure the two victims kept quiet before Attar’s re-election campaign. The three conspirators coordinated their efforts through encrypted WhatsApp messages, which were promptly deleted.
Attar and her merry band of privacy invaders are looking at some pretty hefty penalties, up to decades behind bars, should they be convicted of their crimes. When Fox News reached out to Attar’s office for a comment on the unsealed documents, it didn’t respond. Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told the press that Finkelstein has been yanked off the streets and stuck behind a desk on administrative duty since 2022, no longer holding police powers.
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According to a report from The Baltimore Banner, Attar’s lawyer, A. Jeff Ifrah, the state senator is planning to fight against the charges she’s facing, saying they hope to resolve the case before it ever goes to trial. Attar herself stated she has not seen “tangible evidence” to support her prior knowledge of, or participation in, an alleged blackmail scheme.
“I ran for public office because of my strong belief in serving my community that I love, and I would never do anything to knowingly jeopardize my constituents’ trust in me,” Attar stated. Senate President Bill Ferguson, a fellow Democrat, released a statement saying he’s in the process of getting filled in about the charges, pointing out the “highest ethical standards” that senators are held to.
Attar has a lengthy public service record. She formerly served as a Baltimore prosecutor, but was ultimately elected to the House of Delegates in 2018. Attar was appointed to the state Senate at the beginning of 2025. Up to this point, the Democrat had been considered a rising political star within the Maryland Orthodox Jewish community.
Featured image: screenshot from embedded video