Kevin Mallory, former CIA officer, convicted of selling secrets to China

A jury on Friday convicted former CIA case officer Kevin Mallory in connection with selling classified intelligence to Chinese spies.

Mallory, 61, was found guilty of espionage charges and lying to the FBI, capping off a two-week trial during which investigators accused the longtime intelligence official and U.S. Army veteran of transmitting documents including top secret material to a contacted he assed to be a working for the Chinese government.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the verdict and set a sentencing hearing for September 21, the Department of Justice said in statement announcing the verdict. Mallory faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, the statement said.

“This trial highlights a serious threat to U.S. national security,” said Nancy McNamara, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s D.C. field office. “Foreign intelligence agents are targeting former U.S. Government security clearance holders in order to recruit them and steal our secrets. This case should send a message to foreign intelligence services and those caught up in their web: we are watching and we will investigate and prosecute those who willfully violate their obligations to protect national security secrets”

Mallory emerged on the FBI’s radar after he was caught returning to the U.S. from China last April with more than $16,000 in declared cash, raising suspicions among authorities and prompting a probe that led in his arrest two months later.

Investigators ultimately determined that Mallory transmitted four classified documents to an individual he assessed to be a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for $25,000, including secret and top secret material involving human assets.

Mallory’s attorneys denied the charges and claimed that their client had hoped to lure the contact so that they could be captured by U.S. authorities.

“This was an intelligence operation against Chinese intelligence,” defense attorney Geremy Kamens said during closing arguments, The New York Times reported. “In reality, Kevin Mallory was working against the Chinese.”

“That is totally and completely absurd,” countered Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gibbs, The Washington Post reported. “His intent was never to help,” he added. “His intent was to lie.”