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In this artist’s depiction, U.S. prosecutors address the court during the sentencing of guilty spy Robert Hansen (middle) and attorney Platon Katcheris (left) in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, May 10, 2002. Randy Bellows (right).
William Hennessy Jr./Associated Press
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William Hennessy Jr./Associated Press
In this artist’s depiction, U.S. prosecutors address the court during the sentencing of guilty spy Robert Hansen (middle) and attorney Platon Katcheris (left) in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, May 10, 2002. Randy Bellows (right).
William Hennessy Jr./Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Former FBI agent Robert Hansen, who smuggled more than $1.4 million in cash and diamonds into Moscow as trade secrets in one of the most notorious espionage cases in American history, died Monday in prison.
Hansen, 79, was found unresponsive in a federal prison cell in Florence, Colorado, and was later pronounced dead, prison officials said. A person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that he is believed to have died of natural causes. The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the details of Hansen’s death, spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and other crimes and had been serving a life sentence without parole since 2002.
Mr. Hansen has leaked a wealth of information about US intelligence gathering, including extensive details about how US authorities have used Russian espionage since at least 1985.
He was believed to have been responsible for the deaths of at least three Soviet officers working for the U.S. Intelligence Service and was executed after being caught.
In exchange for providing highly classified national security information to the Soviet Union and later to Russia, he obtained over $1.4 million in cash, bank funds, diamonds and a Rolex watch.
He apparently didn’t adopt the extravagant lifestyle, instead living in a modest suburban house in Virginia with his family of six children and driving a Taurus and a minivan.
Mr. Hansen would later say that his motivation was money, not ideology, but in a letter he wrote to Soviet trainers in 1985, he said he could not use large sums without sounding alarm bells. Therefore, it explains that it may have caused a complicated situation.
Authorities say he used the pseudonym “Ramon Garcia” and handed over about 6,000 documents and 26 computer discs to the person in charge. They detailed wiretapping techniques, helped confirm the identity of a Russian double agent, and divulged other secrets. Officials also believe he tipped Moscow into a secret tunnel that the Americans built under the Soviet embassy in Washington for wiretapping purposes.
He went undetected for years, but later investigations revealed he had missed the red flags. After Hansen became the focus of Russia’s mole hunt, he was caught taped garbage bags filled with secrets to the underside of a park footbridge as a ‘death landing’ for Russian handlers. .
This story was made into a movie violation The 2007 film starred Chris Cooper as Hansen and Ryan Phillippe as the young bureaucrat who overthrew Hansen.
The Bureau of Prisons said the FBI was notified of Hansen’s death.
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