Ex-CIA officer gets 10 years in prison for spying for China

PHOTO CAPTION: The lobby of the CIA Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia, August 14, 2008. REUTERS/Larry Downing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former CIA officer was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison after pleaded guilty to spying for China, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in May in exchange for pleading guilty to conspiring to gather and deliver to China national defense information, the DOJ said in a statement.

Ma, who worked for the CIA from 1982 to 1989, conspired with a relative, now deceased, who was also employed by the CIA, the DOJ said. They were contacted by Chinese intelligence officers in March 2001 and handed over "a large volume" of classified defense information in exchange for $50,000, the department said.



(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Chris Reese)