FBI man: I lied about the sex

2005-07-19 11:43

Los Angeles - A former FBI agent who had an affair with an accused Chinese double agent he was handling was on Monday sentenced to three months in home confinement in the climax of a bizarre spy saga.

Ex-Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent James Smith, 61, was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and sentenced to three years' probation for his role in the scandal that shook the United States police agency.

Smith was sentenced under a plea bargain with prosecutors after admitting in court on Wednesday that he had lied to his bosses about his two-decade "sexual relationship" with accused Chinese spy Katrina Leung.

Smith, who was arrested along with Leung in April 2003, had recruited and handled California businesswoman Leung to work as an agent for the FBI to pass on information about the Chinese government.

But wealthy Leung was also in pay of the Chinese government, prosecutors allege.

Smith was sentenced by the same judge who in January threw out charges of taking and copying national security documents against Leung, 51, after finding that prosecutors engaged in misconduct in the case against her.

Prosecutors, who allege Leung sneaked information out of Smith's briefcase during liaisons at her home, have appealed the dismissal to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prosecutors had urged the judge to put Smith behind bars for two months for his role in the scandal, a sentence they said would reflect the seriousness of his offence.

"This is not mere adultery. This is an affair with an intelligence asset, who was a double agent," Assistant US Attorney Rebecca Lonergan told US District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper on Monday.

The prosecution cited Smith's alleged inability when being interrogated to remember what information he may have given Leung during their affair.

Lonergan said the FBI would be "struggling for years to come" to find out what damage the now-retired counter-intelligence agent and his affair had done to US national security.

"What may have been compromised ... we will not know," the prosecutor said.

But defence attorney Brian Sun accused the US government of seeking prison time for Smith in an attempt at "saving face in a case that's been disastrous for all concerned."

"The government's position smacks of some vindictiveness," said Sun, who stressed Smith's long career with the FBI and what he described as 100 hours of interviews in an attempt to co-operate with investigators in the case - in which his plea deal called for him to testify against Leung.

- AFP