Born on March 5, 1970, Paul Nicholas Whelan is a former United States Marine who was born in Canada. He holds citizenship in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. On the 28th of December 2018, he was taken into custody in Russia and charged with spying. A sentence of sixteen years in jail was handed down to him on June 15, 2020.
Is Paul Whelan Married?
Despite not being married, Paul Whelan seems to support the institution of marriage. Whelan was in Moscow for a former fellow Marine’s wedding, according to the Detroit Free Press.
According to the publication, Whelan was scheduled to help the bridal party navigate Moscow prior to his January 2019 trip to the United States. However, the Russian Federal Security Service detained him on December 28, 2018.
Paul’s twin brother David Whelan stated via ABC’s Jay O’Brien that Brittney Griner was rightfully returned home by the administration. Whelan stated:
More from Paul Whelan’s twin brother David pic.twitter.com/SIsGelOjPV
— Jay O’Brien (@jayobtv) December 8, 2022
“By bringing Ms. Griner home and striking the best possible settlement instead of waiting for an impossibility, the Biden administration made the right decision.”
According to David, the family knew Paul wouldn’t return home before the details were made public. “That early warning meant that our family has been able to mentally prepare for what is now a public disappointment for us. And a catastrophe for Paul,” David said.
Paul’s situation is being handled differently by Russia, according to President Biden, “for totally illegitimate reasons.” He added: “While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we will not give up. We will never give up.” Paul has two siblings, Andrew and Elizabeth, in addition to David. He is an Irishman as well as an American, British, and Canadian citizen.
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Paul Whelan’s Career
From 1988–2000, Whelan worked as a police officer in Chelsea, Michigan, then as a sheriff’s deputy in Washtenaw County, according to a deposition he made in 2013.
The Washtenaw County sheriff’s office did not have any records of his employment, according to the Chelsea Police, who said he worked as a part-time officer and in lesser capacities from 1990 to 1996. According to a former coworker, he worked as a patrol officer with the Keego Harbor police department from 1998 to 2000.
He worked as the Kelly Services employment company’s IT manager from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2010. Whelan served as Kelly Services’ senior manager of worldwide security and operations from 2010 to 2016.
In 1994, he became a member of the Reserve Marine Corps. From 2003 until 2008, he served in Iraq while on military leave from Kelly Services with the Marine Corps Reserve.
He was a member of Operation Iraqi Freedom and served as an administrative chief and clerk for Marine Air Control Group 38, where he had the rank of staff sergeant.
Following his conviction on several offenses “related to larceny” in January 2008, he was subject to a 60-day restriction, a pay grade E-4 reduction, and a discharge for poor behavior.
The particular allegations against him included “attempted larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, wrongfully using another’s social security number, and ten specifications of making and uttering checks without having sufficient funds in his account for payment.”
Whelan was the director of worldwide security and investigations at BorgWarner, a multinational auto parts business with headquarters in Michigan when he was detained in Russia.
Whelan had connections with federal authorities, foreign embassies, and the U.S. intelligence establishment through his job with Kelly Services and BorgWarner.
From 2006 onwards, Whelan made multiple trips to Russia and continued to be active on the Russian-language social networking platform VKontakte (VK), where he was in contact with about 70 people. Despite having studied Russian, he used Google Translate to interact online.
He stated in a 2013 deposition that he has an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. From the fall of 1988 to the fall of 1990, he attended Northern Michigan University to complete his coursework but did not graduate.
