US engineer sentenced for selling information to fake spy

A US engineer was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty of selling classified information to a fake Russian spy.

Gregory Allen Justice, 49, was reportedly working for Boeing Satellite Systems before his arrest, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Monday, he expressed "regret and remorse" for his crimes after the US District Court in Los Angeles ruled to imprison him because he had violated the Arms Export Control Act by selling the sensitive information to the undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent disguised as a spy.

Justice admitted that he stole proprietary trade secrets from his employer and provided them to the agent and received thousands of dollars in cash between February and July 2016.

Justice said he offered to take the undercover agent on a tour of his employer's production facilities where he said all military spacecraft were built.

In November 2015, a check of Justice's computer revealed that he had inserted a USB device containing five folders with detailed mechanical drawings and design information for a satellite programme.

When authorities searched his car, they found handwritten notes with addresses for the consulate general of Russia in San Francisco and the Russian embassy and its office of the defence, military, air and naval attaches in Washington.

Justice also told the undercover agent that he needed money to care for his ailing wife but the bank records showed he was actually spending his money on another woman.

--IANS

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