Jonathan Toebena and his wife Diana were arrested in the West Virginia area on Saturday, the Justice Department announced.
They allegedly tried to sell a nuclear submarine structure, which was hidden in a sandwich to someone they thought was representing another nation.
The man was an FBI agent.
According to the statement, Mr. Toebbe and his girlfriend have now been charged under atomic law.
Mr. Toebbe was working on a nuclear program and had been approved by the nation's security program.
The justice department said that in April 2020, he sent a data package protected by a message indicating some connection to the foreign government to continue purchasing data from it.
He later allegedly started texting an individual whose message was hidden.
But when he thought the man was representing a foreign government, he was an officer of the FBI.
Several months later, the couple allegedly reached an agreement to provide confidential information for $ 100,000 through digital cryptocurrency.
In June this year, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe traveled to West Virginia to present the data for the first time.
FBI agents arrested the couple on Saturday when they sent the data for the third time. They are expected to appear before the state court on October 12.
