U.S. Judge: Ex-CIA Officer’s Case for Providing Intelligence to CCP Too Complex to Proceed Quickly

A U.S. judge on Thursday found that the case against a former CIA officer accused of spying for China is so complex that it won’t go to trial until at least next September, meaning the defendants have waived their right to a speedy trial.

U.S. prosecutors previously asked a judge to find that their case against former CIA officer and FBI linguist Alexander Yuk Ching Ma was too complicated. Prosecutors say he was arrested last August after a U.S. undercover operation. Authorities allege he and a relative were paid tens of thousands of dollars over the years to provide Chinese intelligence officers with information about CIA agents, foreign informants, classified operations and other matters.

U.S. Federal Judge Kenneth Mansfield said the case was so unusual and complex that a speedy trial was unreasonable. He added that much of the evidence in the case was classified as secret or top secret material.