Former CIA officer admits conspiracy to spy for china
May 14, 2019
A 57-year-old Hong Kong native and U.S veteran faces up to life in prism.
A former CIA case officer long suspected in the intelligence community of being a devastating mole for the Chinese government admitted Wednesday he conspired to commit espionage in that country. But no evidence was produced that Jerry Chun Shing Lee shared any information.
“Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct,” G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. “This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation’s secrets and betray our country’s trust.”
Lee, a 54-year-old Hong Kong native and U.S. Army veteran who served in the CIA for 13 years, faces up to life in prison. But because the guilty plea he entered in federal court in Alexandria describes the information involved as “secret” rather than “top secret,” his recommended sentence will be significantly lower. He had been set to go to trial this week before Judge T.S. Ellis III.
Intelligence officials still suspect Lee is responsible for compromising CIA sources in China, some of whom were killed, according to former U.S. officials. But both intelligence and law enforcement officials have expressed doubt since his arrest last year that they would ever be able to prove Lee was behind the collapse of the CIA’s network of assets in China. There are some who think there may be another explanation for how the CIA’s covert communication system was breached.
With his plea, the case against Lee will remain shrouded in mystery. Over a dozen hearings over the last year were closed to the public. Most court records in the case are sealed.
The public case against Lee, who moved to Hawaii in high school and has lived in Northern Virginia, has always been circumstantial. He was compiling and keeping information China wanted while at the same time receiving large sums of money, according to court papers. He lied about both his finances and his travel history in interviews with American authorities. Eventually he admitted he had received assignments from Chinese spies and compiled information they requested but maintained he had never given the documents to them.
Former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria to conspiring to deliver secrets to China. (Alexandria Sheriff’s Office/AP)
“He got himself into a bad spot in China and he got out of it,” defense attorney Ed MacMahon said outside the court. He said “there was never any claim that Mr. Lee was responsible for getting anyone killed.”
A case officer tasked with engaging foreign officials, Lee left the CIA in 2007 and tried his luck in tobacco importation. But he was not successful. In 2010, according to court documents, two Chinese spies approached Lee at a dinner in Shenzhen and offered him $100,000 in cash in exchange for his cooperation. They added that they would take care of him for life.
Updated
Federal court sentenced him 20 years in jail for spying for China.
