Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, a native of Hong Kong who became a naturalized US citizen, was arrested in August 2020.
Ma, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1982 until 1989, admitted providing classified national defense information to intelligence officers of China's Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB), the Justice Department said in a statement.
According to court documents, a relative of Ma, who was not identified and is since deceased, also worked for the CIA, from 1967 until 1983, and was a co-conspirator.
The Justice Department said both men held top secret security clearances.
It said Ma and his co-conspirator met with SSSB agents in Hong Kong in March 2001 and provided them with classified information in return for $50,000 in cash.
Two years later, Ma applied for a job as a contract linguist with the FBI in Hawaii, the Justice Department said.
"The FBI, aware of Ma's ties to (Chinese) intelligence, hired Ma as part of a ruse to monitor and investigate his activities and contacts with the SSSB," it said, adding that he worked part-time for the FBI from August 2004 until October 2012.
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