List of imprisoned spies

Spying for other countries or groups is in many cases illegal and punishable by law. The following is a list of individuals that have either been imprisoned for spying, or individuals that have been arrested in connection to their spying activities.

Name Nationality Summary Conviction Date Penalty
Aldrich Ames American Convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia 1994 Life sentence (without parole)
David Sheldon Boone American Sold secret documents to the Soviet Union and is estimated to have received $60,000 from the KGB February 26, 1999 24 Years and 4 Months
Marthe Cnockaert Belgian Convicted for spying for the United Kingdom and its allies during the First World War November 1916 Life sentence (released 2 years later)
Clayton J. Lonetree American Convicted for providing classified information to the Soviet Union while stationed in Moscow as a guard at the U.S. Embassy August 21, 1987 30-year sentence, reduced to 15, released February 1996
Alexander Fishenko American-Russian Convicted for illegally exporting microelectronics from the U.S.A. to Russia July 21, 2016 10-year sentence[1]
James Hall III American Signals analyst who sold eavesdropping and code secrets to East Germany and the Soviet Union from 1983 to 1988 July 20, 1989 40-year sentence
Robert Hanssen American Spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1979 to 2001 July 6, 2001 Life sentence (without parole)
Ana Montes American Convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage for the government of Cuba October 2002 25-year prison term followed by five years probation
Harold James Nicholson American Twice-convicted spy for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service June 5, 1997 23 years 7-month sentence
Stewart Nozette American Convicted for attempted espionage and fraud against the United States for the government of Israel 2009 13-year sentence
Ronald Pelton American Spied for and sold secret documents to the Soviet Union. Was known to have a photographic memory and as such never passed any physical documents on. 1983 Life sentence (Released November 24, 2015)
Earl Edwin Pitts American Accused of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia, and pleaded guilty to conspiring and attempting to commit espionage 1997 27-year sentence
Jonathan Pollard American Convicted for espionage for passing highly sensitive classified information to Israel while working as an American civilian intelligence analyst 1987 Life sentence (Released November 20, 2015)
George Trofimoff American Convicted for spying for the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s September 27, 2001 Life sentence
John Anthony Walker American Convicted of spying for the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1985 1985 Life sentence
Brian Patrick Regan American Convicted of one of gathering national defense information and two counts of attempted espionage for soliciting classified information to Iraq, China, and Libya. March 21, 2003 Life sentence
Chelsea Manning American Convicted of six counts of the espionage act for providing classified information to Wikileaks July 30, 2013 35-year sentence, commuted (released May 17, 2017)
Dongfan "Greg" Chung Chinese Convicted of economic espionage; stole trade secrets related to the US Space Shuttle program and the Delta IV rocket and provided them to China[2] July 16, 2009[2] 15-year sentence, died May 18, 2020, while incarcerated[3]
Kendall & Gwendolyn Myers American Convicted of spying for Cuba across a 30-year span November 20, 2009 Life sentence (without parole); 81 months

See also

References

  1. ^ "Russian Agent Sentenced to 10 Years for Acting as Unregistered Russian Government Agent and Leading Scheme to Illegally Export Controlled Technology to Russian Military". www.justice.gov. 2016-07-21. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  2. ^ a b "Former Boeing Engineer Convicted of Economic Espionage in Theft of Space Shuttle Secrets for China". www.justice.gov. 2009-07-16. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  3. ^ "Inmate Death at FCI Butner (Low)" (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. May 28, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved October 23, 2020.