Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was convicted of spying for Russia, dies in jail

A former FBI agent who took greater than $1.4 million in money and diamonds to commerce secrets and techniques with Russia and the previous Soviet Union in one of the infamous spying instances in American historical past died in jail Monday.

Robert Hanssen, 79, was discovered unresponsive in his cell at a federal jail in Florence, Colorado, and later pronounced useless, jail officers stated.

Hanssen is believed to have died of pure causes, an individual conversant in the matter instructed The Associated Press. The particular person was not approved to publicly focus on particulars of Hanssen’s dying and spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity.

He had been serving a sentence of life in jail with out parole after pleading responsible to fifteen counts of espionage and different expenses in 2001.

He had begun offering extremely categorised nationwide safety info to Russia and the previous Soviet Union in 1985, and obtained greater than $1.4 million price of money, financial institution funds and diamonds in trade over the course of 16 years, in line with an FBI historical past of his case.