Former CIA agent to serve 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit espionage

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Federal officials have announced the sentencing of a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who lived in Honolulu for conspiracy to commit espionage.

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, was arrested in August 2020 when he admitted to an undercover FBI employee that he had facilitated the provision of classified information to intelligence officers employed by the Chinese government.

Court documents reported that Ma worked for the CIA from 1982 to 1989. He co-conspired with a now-deceased blood relative, known as co-conspirator number one, who also worked for the CIA from 1967 to 1983.

Both men held access to Top Secret security clearances for sensitive and classified CIA information during their time as CIA officers.

According to court documents, Ma was asked to arrange a meeting between co-conspirator #1 and the Shanghai State Security Bureau in a Hong Kong hotel room in March 2001.

Once co-conspirator #1 agreed, the two met with SSSB officers for three days where both former CIA officers unveiled classified U.S. national defense information in exchange for $50,000 in cash.

In February 2006, Ma asked co-conspirator #1 to identify four individuals of interest from photographs to the SSSB. Co-conspirator #1 identified at least two individuals.

Ma later confessed to knowingly and willfully conspiring with co-conspirator #1 to provide information that could injure the United States to the Chinese government.

Ma’s plea agreement states that he must “cooperate with the United States for the rest of his life, including by submitting to debriefings by U.S. government agencies.

According to government counsel, Ma “has been cooperative and has taken part in multiple interview sessions with government agents.”

He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and will be supervised for five years following his release.