The tabloids have been eating up this Hollywood story straight out of James Bond movies about a hot red-head named Anna Chapman, 28, who was among 10 suspects who pleaded guilty in New York last week to a charge of procuring information for a foreign government. The undercover "agents" were sent to Russia from the United States on Friday in a swap for four Russians accused of spying for the West.
One other alleged spy, Tracey Foley, also in real estate, worked for online real-estate company Redfin, while the most talked about beauty, Anna Chapman, was in New York City’s high-end real estate scene operating an apartment rentals website.
Chapman, seen in the photo, according to her bio page on LinkedIn.com, she listed herself as the chief executive officer of PropertyFinder Ltd., which maintained a website featuring real estate listings in Moscow, Spain, Bulgaria and other countries.
While details of the eleven arrests made of alleged Russian spies continue to develop, it is notable that two happen to have chosen the real estate profession. Upon the arrest of non-hot spy Tracey Foley, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman explained in a blog statement that "her employment screening was clean, her track record as a contract field agent at Redfin was good and that she has worked at other brokerages like Wiechart since 2007." Apparently the background check didn't report any felonies...or the fact that she was a Russian Spy, its hard to get work with that kind of baggage.
"Hot Anna" was said to be a rich socialite and a young up and comer who even video blogged with frequency about her dreams of building a real estate business. But why real estate? Shouldn't Russian spies be hooking up jobs with nucleur scientists or horny Senators around New York? Well, one thing is for certain, a Real Estate Agent in high end property around the globe can certainly pass off as a "socialite" and a networking queen. Its what many young attractive Real Estate Agents long for. Also, the job allows for much independence and lacks any strict work schedule leaving time for Spy activities.
Here's a future tip for attractive red-headed Russian spies who wish to avoid getting caught for espionage, change your name from Anna to Sally...and find another job title that doesn't include "Agent".
Marty Macisso writes about all things real estate, focusing on properties in Maine.
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