NASA Scientist Stewart Nozette Charged With Espionage

To everyone he knows, Stewart D. Nozette is a brilliant and creative scientist at NASA. He is also ambitious and political, donating many thousands of dollars to campaigns and causes, and has prodded public officials to fund programs he is excited about. Now he is also accused of espionage after he tried to sell sensitive information to an FBI officer posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, the Washington Post reports.

Nozette was first in trouble earlier this year when he was caught swindling the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund his expensive tastes: credit card charges, car loans, mortgages and swimming pool maintenance. Federal prosecutors say he overbilled the government $265,000 from 2000 to 2006. Nozette pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion, was given a two-year sentence. But he remarked to a colleague that he would sell the sensitive information he knew from his highly classified government jobs if officials tried to put him in jail.

The colleague tipped off federal investigators, who knew Nozette was working with companies in Israel and India. An undercover FBI agent called to see if he would sell classified information, and Nozelle allegedly proceeded with an elaborate espionage scheme with what he believed to be an Israeli intelligence official. He handed over envelopes filled with secrets about U.S. early-warning strategies and major defense strategies.

Nozette was indicted Oct. 21. If convicted he could face the death penalty, though prosecutors seem unlikely to pursue it. The Justice Department said he would likely face life in prison.