A former CIA officer arrested for espionage has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide classified information to Chinese intelligence officials, according to the US Department of Justice.
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, of Honolulu, had arranged for himself and a relative, who also previously worked for the CIA, to meet with Chinese security officers in Hong Kong and provide classified material in exchange for $50,000, according to his plea agreement. Ma pleaded guilty in May.
Ma was later the target of an FBI undercover operation after applying to work as a linguist at the bureau’s Honolulu field office.
“The FBI, aware of Ma’s ties to PRC (People’s Republic of China) intelligence, hired Ma, as part of an investigative plan, to work at an off-site location where his activities could be monitored and his contacts with the PRC investigated,” the DOJ said in a news release.
During the course of his monitored employment with the FBI, Ma allegedly took a digital camera into the FBI office to photograph sensitive documents that he would then take to his handlers in China.
Ma’s attorney, Salina Kanai, told CNN Thursday that “the judge had to weigh a host of mitigating and aggravating factors, many unique to Mr. Ma’s case,” adding: “We are glad that in considering so many variables, the court came to the same conclusion that the government and defense did – that ten years of imprisonment is the just sentence for my client.”
The Justice Department said that “under the terms of the plea agreement, Ma must cooperate with the United States for the rest of his life, including by submitting to debriefings by U.S. government agencies,” and noted he has already been cooperative during multiple interviews.
