that the United States Treasury Department turn the actual printing plates over to the Russians". She elaborated in 1953 to McCarthy's Senate subcommittee, testifying that she was following instructions from NKVD New York rezident Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov to pass word through Ludwig Ullmann and Silvermaster for White to "put the pressure on for the delivery of the plates to Russia". Bentley had not previously mentioned the printing plates in debriefings or testimony, and there was no evidence at the time that she had any role in the transfer of the plates. Bentley biographer Kathryn Olmsted concluded that Bentley was "lying about her role in the scandal", citing historian Bruce Craig's conclusion "that the whole 'scheme' was a complete fabrication"; neither Bentley nor White had a role in the plate transfer. After Olmsted's 2002 biography was published, a memorandum found in the newly-accessible Soviet archives and also published in 2002 corroborated Bentley's testimony. Gaik Ovakimian (head of the NKVD's American desk) cited an April 14, 1944 report in the memorandum that, "following our instructions" via Silvermaster, White had "attained the positive decision of the Treasury Department to provide the Soviet side with the plates for engraving German occupation marks". Payment (1952) Bentley was asked to testify before a number of bodies investigating communist espionage and influence in the U.S. after her defection, and continued consulting occasionally with the FBI for the rest of her life. She began accepting payments for testimony in 1952, making her a paid FBI informant. According to Kathryn S. Olmsted, Bentley received frequent requests from Catholic and veterans' groups "happy to pay her $300 fee". Religious conversion and speaking engagements Bentley had been a successful executive with a profitable shipping company while she was with the Communists. After her defection, she supported herself with secretarial work and teaching. In 1948, she was converted to Roman Catholicism by future Auxiliary Bishop of New York Fulton J. Sheen. Bentley was frequently invited by Catholic groups to lecture on Communism and her experience in the Communist movement. Death At age 55, Bentley died after abdominal-cancer surgery on December 3, 1963 at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. Obituaries were published in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Olmsted observes in her biography the marked contrast between the attention paid to Bentley's death and that of Chambers two years earlier; the National Review devoted a special memorial issue