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A former CIA case officer faces life in prison after he was found guilty of espionage charges and lied to the FBI about his contacts with Chinese intelligence.
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A former CIA officer faces life in jail after he was convicted on Friday for betraying his country to spy on behalf of China.
Kevin Mallory, 61, of Leesburg, Va., Was found guilty of espionage charges and lied to the FBI about his contacts with Chinese intelligence.
The verdict ended a nearly two-week trial offering a rare glimpse into the murky world of American espionage, which is usually not put on trial due to difficulties involving highly classified information.
"There are some crimes in this country that are more serious than espionage," said G. Zachary Terwilliger, US attorney for Eastern District of Virginia. "This office has a long history of holding responsible people betraying their country and trying and taking advantage of confidential information."
Mr. Lawyer Mallory firmly rejected the allegations. They claimed that Mr. Mallory, a former CIA secret officer and a private consultant, was a patriot planning to use his recruitment to lure Chinese intelligence handlers into the CIA's clutches. Mr. Mallory left the CIA in 2012.
"This is an intelligence operation against Chinese intelligence," Mr. lawyer said. Mallory, Geremy Kamens, on Thursday, at the close of the argument. "In fact, Kevin Mallory works against the Chinese."
The jury was unsure, negotiating for the day before deciding to believe the substantial evidence the prosecutor put in the federal courtroom in Northern Virginia.
In early 2017, a Chinese headhunter sent a message to Mallory about a work contract using a networking site. But the work that Mr. Mallory he explored turned out to have a much different purpose.
He was inherited to a Chinese intelligenceman who worked for a think tank who wanted him to be an informant. And for the next four months, Mr. Mallory, who is fluent in Mandarin, travels to Shanghai, has secret communications with operators on the phone provided by China and conveys information - including an unclassified white paper on American intelligence policy - to Handlers, authorities said.
But China's efforts to protect the contents of the phone from spies failed to fail because of a clear technical problem. The FBI was able to analyze it and find a handwritten index describing eight documents. Four of the documents listed in the index are found on the phone, with three containing confidential information.
Changes in Mr. Spy's career Mallory is that he told the FBI and CIA sections of the story and gave his phone to agents. This is proof that Mr. Mallory is not a spy, his lawyer says.
Prosecutors said the story was "totally and totally unreasonable." Mr. Mallory, the prosecutor said, selectively expressed his contacts to have a potential defense if federal investigators knew his true plan: to trade American secrets for cash.
"His intention has never been helpful," John Gibbs, a federal prosecutor, said on Thursday. "The intention is to lie."
By the time he was recruited, prosecutors said Mr. Mallory was thousands of dollars in debt and behind his mortgage, making him a prime target for intelligence agents who wanted to trade money for secrets. In the case of Mr. Mallory, the Chinese gave him $ 25,000, authorities said.
Mr. Mallory is scheduled to be sentenced in September
This high profile case was among several recent cases involving Chinese efforts to recruit former US intelligence officials. In January, the FBI arrested Jerry Chun Shing Lee, another former CIA officer, who was repeatedly in touch with Chinese intelligence. He was accused of illegally possessing confidential information and conspiring to spy on the Chinese.
Last week, prosecutors sued Ron Rockwell Hansen, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, with espionage efforts. The FBI began to investigate Mr. Hansen in 2014.