August 2020 saw the arrest of Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, who had confessed to an undercover FBI agent that he had sold US secrets to China.
Ma, a Hong Kong-born US citizen by naturalization, was employed by the CIA from 1982 to 1989. Later in his career, he was employed by the FBI.
He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors “for the rest of his life, including by submitting to debriefings by US government agencies” as part of his plea deal.
He must take a polygraph test as part of the plea agreement during those debriefings, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Lawyers appeared at a sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
According to officials, Ma worked with a relative who was a CIA agent to provide intelligence operatives working for the Shanghai State Security Bureau with secrets.
Federal prosecutors claim that at one encounter in Hong Kong, which was captured on camera, Ma is seen counting $50,000 (£38,000) in cash in exchange for the secrets they imparted.
In 2004, while residing in Hawaii, he accepted a contract linguist position with the FBI’s Honolulu office.
Prosecutors said on Wednesday that Ma was “hired as part of a ruse to monitor and investigate his activities and contacts” by the FBI, which was already aware of his espionage activities.
The unidentified accomplice was Ma’s brother, who passed away before he could face charges, according to the news.
