Virginia man Charged with selling secrets to China - Sensationalist Headlines

[Quote] A Virginia man caught with $16,500 in cash in his carry-on luggage was charged Thursday with transmitting top-secret documents to an apparent Chinese agent. Kevin Mallory, 60, of Leesburg was arrested Thursday and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The self-employed consultant who speaks Chinese is charged under the federal Espionage Act and could face life in prison. In fact, if certain conditions are met, the charges could make Mallory eligible for the death penalty, prosecutor John Gibbs said at Mallory’s initial appearance. Court records indicate that Mallory was an Army veteran and worked as a special agent for the Diplomatic Security Service at the U.S. State Department from 1987 to 1990. Since 1990, he has worked for a variety of government agencies and defense contractors, according to the affidavit. He held Top Secret security clearance until he left government service in 2012. [/Quote] [url]https://apnews.com/3da896e6cc504dba93916100dd62988b/Virginia-man-charged-with-giving-secret-documents-to-China[/url] Death penalty should be a definite I think. Espionage is illegal by international law, and is often punished by death.

Wow, I wonder what he sold them. [quote]According to the affidavit, Mallory told the FBI agents that the only documents he transferred were two unclassified “white papers” he had written on U.S. policy matters, for which he said he was paid $25,000.[/quote] Hm.

[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;52392191]Death penalty should be a definite I think. Espionage is illegal by international law, and is often punished by death.[/QUOTE] In many countries, espionage is certainly punishable with death. In times of [I]war[/I].

It was probably an embarrassing photo of Spongebob at the Christmas party.

[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;52392191]Espionage is illegal by international law[/QUOTE] Lol, no it isn't.

[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;52392191][url]https://apnews.com/3da896e6cc504dba93916100dd62988b/Virginia-man-charged-with-giving-secret-documents-to-China[/url] Death penalty should be a definite I think. Espionage is illegal by international law, and is often punished by death.[/QUOTE] Jesus Christ

Jail him sure, but put him to death? wtf lol

I'm guessing you live in the South, OP?

[QUOTE=Bradyns;52392732]I'm guessing you live in the South, OP?[/QUOTE] I'm not good at detecting accents, but in one of his YouTube vlogs he talks about Blue Bell ice cream, which according to Wikipedia is based in Texas and "expanded to the entire state of Texas and soon much of the Southern United States". So I think you might be right on the money.

At least Florida Man hasn't betrayed us.

We really ought to revise the 1917 Espionage Act. It's super out of date now, and a broad legal instrument meant just for conflicts like WWI. It effectively makes [i]any[/i] sort of whistleblowing, beneficial or otherwise, totally illegal and subject to swift and unfair punishments.

I bet it had the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.

i expect to see this in the papers. this is my hometown.. it will be the talking point for weeks now :s:

Bruh I can rationalized secret/top secret information on something like nuclear launch codes,access into various intranets and highly secure facilities and the likes for death or life in prison.. But it's unclassified. It's not even remotely close to actual spying when he fucking wrote them himself and sold them, dude basically got 25k for no good reason.

The title is misleading. My mistake.

[QUOTE=RG4ORDR;52393571]Bruh I can rationalized secret/top secret information on something like nuclear launch codes,access into various intranets and highly secure facilities and the likes for death or life in prison.. But it's unclassified. It's not even remotely close to actual spying when he fucking wrote them himself and sold them, dude basically got 25k for no good reason.[/QUOTE] I swear none of you read the article at all [quote]But FBI agents searched the device and found other documents and messages that Mallory thought had been deleted, according to the affidavit. In one message, [B]Mallory wrote to the suspected Chinese agent, “your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid.”[/B][/quote] Three of the four documents the FBI later found contained top-secret information in them, with one containing secret information, and Mallory having possessed a top-secret clearance made him a threat to national security at that point via the Espionage Act. $20,000 fine and 20 years in prison.

[QUOTE=RG4ORDR;52393571]dude basically got 25k for no good reason.[/QUOTE] Paying an excessive amount for questionable but essentially 'worthless' material is the first step in recruitment and exploitation by an intelligence agency. First it's something harmless, then it's something related to projects they worked on, then it's active intelligence information- each step using the previous one as leverage. Plenty of convicted spies followed this pattern. The fact that he actually disclosed TS information because he didn't follow his legal responsibility to undergo prepublication review was just a bonus for his handler. And he [i]knew[/i] he was doing something wrong, because he tried to hide all contact.