Ex-CIA officer sentenced to 19 years for China conspiracy

A former CIA officer has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after he was convicted of conspiring to turn over U.S. intelligence information to China’s government. 

Prosecutors said that Jerry Chun Shing Lee, who was with the agency for 13 years, had direct knowledge of sensitive secrets, according to NBC News. 

Lee was not charged with giving China any intel, according to NBC. 

A judge said “it is all but certain” he gave information to China, but Lee’s lawyer said “the government has offered only conjecture as a basis for these claims.”

Lee reportedly pleaded guilty in May to a charge of conspiring to give national defense information to a foreign country. He was arrested in 2018 after FBI agents said they found notebooks and a flash drive with information and phone numbers of CIA personnel, details about an operation and information about facilities. 

He reportedly admitted to a 2010 meeting with Chinese intelligence officials who said they would pay him and “take care of him for life” in exchange for secrets.