Buma was arrested on 17 March 2025, just weeks after Trump’s new director of the FBI, Kash Patel, had been confirmed in his role. Buma said he was at Kennedy airport awaiting a flight to the UK, where he planned to have a meeting with the HarperCollins publisher Arabella Pike, when he was suddenly surrounded by agents. He was released on bail the next day.

The bail included a restriction that he refrain from excessive use of alcohol. This restriction appears to arise from an October 2023 text message reviewed by the FBI. Buma denies drinking excessively.

His meeting with Pike was canceled by the publisher after his arrest, according to a screenshot of a text message seen by the Guardian. Pike did not respond to a request for comment.

Buma was arraigned in Los Angeles weeks after his arrest, on 1 May, and charged with a single misdemeanor. US prosecutors have claimed Buma “knowingly published, divulged, disclosed, and made known” the identity and personal identifying information of an individual who was a confidential FBI source.