Fmr CIA Station Chief In Romania Admits To Spying For Russia From Prison

Harold Nicholson, the highest ranking CIA official ever to be convicted of espionage, dispatched his son around the globe to collect on past espionage debts from Russian agents," ABC News quoted Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris as saying.

Authorities say that in 2006, Nicholson enlisted his son Nathaniel, 25, in another espionage scheme, sending him around the globe to provide the Russians with information from his father and collect money for his father's past espionage activities.

According to authorities, Jim Nicholson was once a rising star in the CIA. He was a station chief in Romania and taught counter-intelligence at the CIA academy, nicknamed "The Farm", ABC News notes, adding that Nicholson had access to the agency's most sensitive material. But his lavish spending drew suspicion, and in 1997, he was convicted of selling the identity of U.S. agents operating in Russia for $180,000, and sentenced to more than 23 years in prison.

Nicholson on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of spying for Russia and of conspiring to commit international money laundering. The plea agreement states the U.S. Attorney and Nicholson's lawyers will ask the court at sentencing to impose an eight-year prison sentence to be served consecutive to the sentence he is currently serving. His son is expected to receive a lesser sentence, in return for his cooperation.

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