Last Update: June 06, 2023, 01:39 AM IST
Washington DC, United States of America (USA)
In 2001, Robert Hansen pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and conspiracy in exchange for the government not seeking the death penalty. (Reuters file photo)
Hansen, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 on espionage charges, received more than $1.4 million in cash, diamonds and money stashed in Russian accounts.
Robert Hansen, a former FBI agent who confessed to spying for Moscow, has died at a maximum security facility in the US state of Colorado.
His unresponsive body was found in a prison in the city of Florence on Monday morning, CNN reported.
“On Monday, June 5, 2023, at approximately 6:55 p.m., inmate Robert Hansen was found unresponsive at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Florence ADMAX in Florence, Colorado,” the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement.
“Responding crews immediately initiated life-saving measures. Crews requested emergency medical services (EMS) and life-saving efforts continued.
Hansen, 79, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 on espionage charges, was found to have received US$1.4 million in cash, diamonds and money deposited into Russian accounts.
At the time of his arrest, he lived with his wife and six children in a modest four-bedroom home in suburban Virginia.
After joining the FBI in 1976, Hansen eventually became the most damaging spy in the US agency’s history due to his access to classified information.
Beginning in 1985, he transmitted sensitive data to Russia and the former Soviet Union, using the alias “Ramon Garcia” in his correspondence.
According to the FBI, Hanssen compromised multiple human sources, counterintelligence techniques, investigations, classified government documents, and critical technical work.
