Additionally, Joshua Schulte was found guilty of having pictures of child abuse.
It is alleged by the prosecution that he disclosed the CIA’s “Vault 7” capabilities, which enable intelligence agents to infiltrate iPhones and utilize them as listening devices.
One of the most “brazen” leaks in US history, according to them.
According to the US Justice Department, Schulte, 35, gave 8,761 records to Wikileaks in 2017, becoming the worst data breach in CIA history.
Despite his denial of the accusations, he was found guilty on all charges in three different federal trials held in New York in 2020, 2022, and 2023.
He was found guilty on Thursday of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, lying to the FBI, and possessing pictures of child abuse.
US Attorney Damian Williams declared, “Joshua Schulte betrayed his country by committing some of the most egregious, brazen crimes of espionage in American history.”
Schulte worked as a software developer for the Center for Cyber Intelligence, which carries out cyber espionage against foreign governments and terrorist organizations, according to evidence presented during the trial.
According to the prosecution, he sent the stolen data to Wikileaks in 2016 and then told FBI investigators false information about his involvement in the release.
They claimed that he appeared to be driven by resentment following a conflict at work.
Assistant US Attorney Michael Lockard stated that Schulte had been having trouble meeting deadlines and that one of his projects was running so far behind schedule that he had taken on the moniker “Drifting Deadline”.
According to the authorities, he felt that people had wronged him, and by taking revenge, he “caused enormous damage to this country’s national security.”
In 2017, Wikileaks started releasing secret information from the files.
