Ex-CIA spy for Chinese has 2 convictions thrown out

A federal judge has thrown out two convictions against a former CIA officer who conspired to sell secrets to Chinese spies, saying prosecutors failed to establish the crimes happened in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Kevin Mallory, a longtime intelligence agent who went to trial last month, remains guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage and making false statements. But he is no longer guilty of actually sharing or trying to share national defense information, or NDI, with the Chinese.

Mallory, 61, will be sentenced on the remaining counts Sept. 21, when he still faces up to life in prison.

Mallory traveled twice to China to meet with a Chinese spy calling himself Michael Yang and with others. On the second trip, Yang gave a customized Samsung phone to Mallory so they could communicate covertly, which Mallory later handed over to the FBI. Agents found several documents containing classified information as well as conversations indicating Mallory had sent some of the papers to Yang and tried to send others.

At trial in suburban Alexandria, Virginia, Mallory argued unsuccessfully that his true intent was to lure the Chinese spies into a trap and hand them over to U.S. law enforcement.

Judge T.S. Ellis called the evidence “overwhelming” that Mallory and Yang “agreed to work together to transmit NDI to Chinese nationals.” But, Ellis said, the government never established where Mallory was when he sent those messages, which FBI experts said happened in the middle of the night between May 1 and May 2, 2017.

Mallory lives in suburban Leesburg, within the Eastern District of Virginia, but Ellis said a jury cannot assume he was home when he sent the documents.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia did not immediately return a request for comment.