WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- A former NASA scientist has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for tax evasion and espionage after passing secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli spy.
In addition to the prison sentence, handed down Wednesday by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Stewart David Nozette was ordered to pay $217,000 to the government, The Christian Science Monitor reported.
Nozette pleaded guilty in September to providing classified information to a person he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.
Nozette's scientific positions included work on the National Space Council and at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Nozette used his non-profit company, the Alliance for Competitive Technology, to commit tax fraud between January 2000 and February 2006, prosecutors said. An undercover FBI agent contacted Nozette in September 2009, posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.
In exchange for $10,000 in cash, Nozette provided the agent with information about U.S. satellites, communications and defense.
The government of Israel has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case, prosecutors said.
