Sentencing delayed for ex-CIA officer accused of spying for China

A federal judge has delayed sentencing for a former CIA officer convicted of spying for China, according to The Associated Press.

Kevin Mallory was arrested in 2017 after he was found to have more than $16,000 in undeclared cash on a return flight from Shanghai and was convicted last year of accepting $25,000 from Chinese handlers in exchange for top-secret information, according to the AP.

{mosads}Mallory was initially set for sentencing Thursday afternoon, but it was postponed until April 26 after a closed hearing, according to the AP.

Prosecutors have claimed Mallory knowingly put human lives at risk with the information he provided and are seeking a life sentence, saying in a recent court filing that he “has yet to accept any responsibility whatsoever for his actions.” 

His defense attorneys have argued he did not provide any information of value and should serve no more than 10 years, according to the news service.

Evidence provided at trial included secret documents that contained details of still-classified Defense Intelligence Agency operations and an agency analysis of a foreign country’s ability to gather intelligence, according to The Washington Post. 

Judge T.S. Ellis III eventually threw out Mallory’s convictions for sharing the classified material, saying the government had not proved he was within the Eastern District of Virginia when the documents were sent. His conviction for conspiracy to sell them will remain, however, according to the Post.

While sentencing guidelines call for a life sentence for Mallory’s conviction, Ellis recently made headlines for disregarding sentencing guidelines in the case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, sentencing him to 47 months rather than the recommended 19 1/2 to 24 years, calling the sentencing guidelines “not at all appropriate.”