Crime & Justice

Ex-CIA employee convicted over leaking documents to Wikileaks

Washington, Jul 13 (EFE).- A former CIA employee accused of carrying out the largest classified data leak in the agency’s history was found guilty on all counts in a federal court on Wednesday.

Joshua Schulte, a 33-year-old software engineer, was found guilty of illegally compiling and transmitting national defense information, among other charges. He has not yet been sentenced.

Codenamed “Vault 7,” the leaked data was distributed by Wikileaks in installments from Mar. 7, 2017 and the organization founded by Australian Julian Assange called it “largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency.”

Vault 7 detailed how the CIA used malware to hack mobile phones and computers and turned smart TVs into listening devices.

A week after that first disclosure, the authorities searched the New York apartment of Schulte, who helped create hacking tools while at Langley, and he was charged in June 2018.

Meanwhile, on June 17, British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an order to extradite Assange to the US where he is wanted over documents leaked in 2010 and 2011 related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

In July, Assange submitted his High Court appeal in London against his extradition.

The 51-year-old activist remains in Belmarsh maximum security prison. EFE

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