A former agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the main US intelligence agency, was sentenced on Wednesday 11 September to ten years in prison for spying for China, the US Ministry of Defense announced.
To avoid risking a life sentence, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, pleaded guilty in May “conspiracy to collect and deliver national defense information” in Beijing.
Alexander Yuk Ching Ma was born in Hong Kong, then moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1968 and became a U.S. citizen in 1975. He worked for the CIA from 1982 to 1989, as did his brother from 1967 to 1983.
According to court documents, in 2001 the Chinese services approached him and asked him to introduce them to this relative, who has since died. During a meeting in a Hong Kong hotel, they handed over classified information in exchange for $50,000 (45,000 euros) in cash, according to the same sources.
“Let this serve as a message”
In 2003, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma applied for a job as a translator at the FBI office, the US federal police, in Hawaii, where he was living at the time. The FBI, “aware of Mr. Ma’s ties to Chinese intelligence”But she recruited him so she could monitor his activities and had him work part-time from August 2004 to October 2012, the ministry said. For several years, he regularly copied, photographed and stole classified documents, prosecutors said. He took them on trips to China, from where he returned with thousands of dollars in cash and expensive gifts.
The spy was arrested in August 2020 after admitting to an undercover FBI agent that he had helped transmit sensitive information to Chinese security services, the Justice Department said in a press release.
“Let this serve as a message to anyone considering doing the same, said Steven Merrill, FBI special agent in Honolulu. No matter how long it takes or how much time passes, you will be brought to justice. »
Alexander’s brother, Yuk Ching Ma, was never prosecuted. He suffered debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and has since died, according to court documents.
