How a $230,000 debt and a LinkedIn message led an ex-CIA officer to spy for China

Kevin Mallory went years without a steady job, making him a ripe target for recruitment, court documents say.

April 4, 2019, 4:34 AM EDT
By Ken Dilanian

Kevin Mallory, a former CIA officer, was $230,000 in debt and months behind on his mortgage in early 2017, court records show, when he received a LinkedIn message from a Chinese headhunter.

The exchange set off a chain of events that led to Mallory's conviction last year on charges of spying for China. On Thursday afternoon, he's set to be sentenced in Virginia. Mallory, 61, is facing up to a life term.

Prosecutors say his betrayal was particularly egregious because he gave his Chinese handlers highly classified information about American operatives who were due to travel to China. Mallory's sentencing comes amid increasing alarm among U.S. intelligence officials about the breadth and intensity of Chinese espionage against the United States — through hacking, recruitment of American agents and infiltration of Chinese operatives into U.S. companies and organizations.

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Mallory's was the rare spying case that went to trial, and as a result there is a significant public record about what happened. It was a classic spy recruitment of someone whose career had floundered, leading to money troubles.

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