Spy for China gets 10 years in federal prison

A former officer with the Central Intelligence Agency who admitted stealing classified information with his late brother and giving it to China in exchange for money, travel and other compensation will spend 10 years in federal prison, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson decided Wednesday.

, 71, who once also worked as an FBI linguist, will not be fined, must pay a $100 special assessment and serve five years of supervised release after he leaves federal prison.

Ma’s attorney asked Watson to recommend incarceration in California at facilities close to his two sons.

He was charged in 2020 with conspiracy to gather and communicate U.S. national defense information to a foreign nation for allegedly working with his brother in California, also a retired CIA officer, to funnel secrets to agents of China’s Ministry of State Security.

“I’ve seen cases from all walks of life, involving different people, different ages, different backgrounds, clearly different types of conduct, but they share one thing, they are heinous. And they deserve … as stiff a penalty as may appropriately be given, ” said Watson, addressing Ma in court Wednesday. “This is one … in those pantheons of wrongs. Intentionally disclosing classified information sir, harmful to the defense of the United States, to a long time rival and one might even consider an existential threat, the People’s Republic of China. It’s harmful to the entity that employed you, that employed those close to you … that provided you and your family with all the things you enjoy.”

Watson pointed out that Ma’s age, lack of criminal history other than the offense he was charged with, providing for and raising three successful children, are mitigating factors, along with his extensive cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Watson questioned the agreed-upon sentence of 10 years, and raised the issue of one piece of “top secret ” information being shared and how that significantly increases sentencing guidelines.

“Most compelling to us is that your agreement, the information disclosed was at the ‘secret level’… comes with great weight because it’s been reviewed by … the Central Intelligence Agency, that’s the agency responsible for classifying these facts and the agency that has the … classification authority over this material. They were OK with our treatment of this material as ‘secret’ in the context of our sentencing agreement, ” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, speaking to Watson’s court. “Due to the isolated nature of the disclosure, the age of the information, the fact that the (top secret ) disclosure came from another person (Ma’s dead brother ).”

Sorenson did reiterate that Ma “betrayed his sworn oath to protect U.S. classified information, he betrayed his adoptive country, he readily assisted another CIA officer (his brother ) in providing national secrets … to the People’s Republic of China, it took years to bring this man to justice.”

“He acted not as a principal, but as a facilitator and intermediary, ” said Sorenson, who noted the more culpable co-conspirator, Ma’s brother, died in 2018. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ma must cooperate with the United States for the rest of his life, including by submitting to debriefings by U.S. government agencies.

Ma entered into a plea agreement May 24 with the U.S. Department of Justice. In return for Ma’s admission of guilt, federal prosecutors agree not to charge Ma with “additional offenses related to gathering, communicating and /or unlawfully retaining or possessing classified information.”

Ma’s attorneys, federal Public Defender Salina M. Kanai and First Assistant Federal Public Defender Craig W. Jerome, in a Sept. 4 sentencing memorandum, asked Watson to sentence Ma to 10 years behind bars.

U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, chief of the Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig S. Nolan prosecuted the case.

In their sentencing memorandum filed Friday, federal prosecutors agreed that 10 years is adequate, noting Ma is less culpable in the crimes than his late brother.

“This is not to imply that Ma is not fully worthy of prosecution and significant punishment. He was and is. But Ma ultimately accepted responsibility for his conduct and elected not to challenge the government’s lengthy but justified delay in seeking his indictment in this case, ” wrote Sorenson.

Kanai argued that Ma’s motivation for selling secrets to China was his brother, whom he loved and respected as a father figure due to the absence of their dad.

Ma’s brother was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Shanghai who joined the CIA in 1967 and for years was assigned overseas. He died after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

In 1983 he resigned from the CIA after inappropriately assisting Chinese nationals in getting into the United States, and in 1998 was convicted of making false statements to a lending institution, according to the affidavit.

At a meeting from March 24-26, 2001, Ma and his older brother met with five agents of China’s Ministry of State Security in a Hong Kong hotel to sell intelligence about the CIA for $50, 000.

His brother, was not charged in the case due to “an advanced and debilitating cognitive disease, ” according to federal court records. The brother’s name is redacted in federal court filings.

“Alexander Ma has admitting to a serious offense, and the good conduct he has engaged in for the majority of his life, may, understandably, be overshadowed by that offense, ” wrote Kanai. “Alex has made some seriously bad decisions and those decisions have led him to where he is now. But in other aspects of his life—in many respects some of the most important aspects of his life—he has done everything right.”

Ma has “done right by his three children, all of whom are now grown and successful.” One is a software engineer in Los Angeles, another practices law in Hong Kong and the youngest is a student at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

“Despite his sworn oath to protect U.S. classified secrets from illegal disclosure, Alexander Ma chose to betray his oath for money while aiding the People’s Republic of China, ” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors, in a statement. “Bringing Alexander Ma to justice, even after the passage of many years, affirms our commitment to holding accountable those who violate our nation’s trust and security.”

After his guilty plea May 24, Ma “took part in five lengthy, and sometimes grueling, sessions over the course of four weeks, some spanning as long as six hours, wherein he provided valuable information and endeavored to answer the government’s inquiries to the best of his ability, ” wrote Sorenson, noting that Ma cooperated with no promise of credit for cooperation. “While Ma at times appeared to minimize his culpability, he ultimately took ownership of his conduct and provided useful assistance to government agents.”

“This sentence demonstrates the dedication of the United States to protect itself from this type of betrayal and violation of trust, ” said FBI Honolulu Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill, in a statement. “Let it be a message to anyone else thinking of doing the same. No matter how long it takes, or how much time passes, you will be brought to justice.”

Ma is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Hong Kong and moved to Honolulu in 1968 where he graduated from Roosevelt High School and attended the University of Hawaii. He had a condominium in Hawaii Kai and a home in China, where he also maintained at least one bank account.

Ma joined the CIA in 1982 and was assigned overseas, including China postings, until he resigned in 1989.

Ma and his brother allegedly disclosed to Chinese agents “CIA international operations, including the covers for CIA officers and activities ; cryptographic information used in classified and sensitive CIA communications and reports ; the internal structure and organization of the CIA ; the identities of CIA officers and human assets ; CIA’s staffing practices and technical departments ; and CIA’s operational trade craft, including secure communication practices, ” according to an Aug. 18, 2019, motion to detain Ma without bail.