A former software engineer from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), found guilty of orchestrating the largest theft of classified information in the agency’s history and facing charges related to child abuse imagery, received a 40-year prison sentence on Thursday.

US District Judge Jesse Furman imposed the lengthy sentence for offenses including espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements to the FBI, and involvement in child pornography, as stated by federal prosecutors.

Despite the prosecution’s request for a life sentence, the judge opted for the 40-year term, the Guardian reported.

Joshua Schulte was convicted in July 2022 on four counts of espionage, four counts of computer hacking, and one count of providing false information to FBI agents, all stemming from the transmission of classified materials to WikiLeaks in the Vault 7 leak.

In August of the same year, a judge largely upheld the conviction.

Written by B.C. Begley