In this artist depiction, U.S. Attorney Randy Bellows, proper, addresses the courtroom through the sentencing of convicted spy Robert Hanssen, heart, seen together with his lawyer Plato Cacheris, left, on the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., May 10, 2002.

William Hennessy Jr./AP

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William Hennessy Jr./AP

In this artist depiction, U.S. Attorney Randy Bellows, proper, addresses the courtroom through the sentencing of convicted spy Robert Hanssen, heart, seen together with his lawyer Plato Cacheris, left, on the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., May 10, 2002.

William Hennessy Jr./AP

WASHINGTON — Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who took greater than $1.4 million in money and diamonds to commerce secrets and techniques with Moscow in some of the infamous spying instances in American historical past, died in jail Monday.

Hanssen, 79, was discovered unresponsive in his cell at a federal jail in Florence, Colorado, and later pronounced lifeless, jail officers mentioned. He is believed to have died of pure causes, an individual conversant in the matter informed The Associated Press. The particular person was not approved to publicly talk about particulars of Hanssen’s demise and spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity.

He had been serving a sentence of life in jail with out chance of parole since 2002, after pleading responsible to fifteen counts of espionage and different expenses.

Hanssen had divulged a wealth of details about American intelligence-gathering, together with in depth element about how U.S. officers had tapped into Russian spy operations, since at the very least 1985.

He was believed to have been partly answerable for the deaths of at the very least three Soviet officers who had been working for U.S. intelligence and executed after being uncovered.

He acquired greater than $1.4 million in money, financial institution funds, diamonds and Rolex watches in change for offering extremely categorized nationwide safety data to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

He did not undertake an clearly lavish life-style, as a substitute residing in a modest suburban house in Virginia together with his household of six youngsters and driving a Taurus and minivan.

Hanssen would later say he was motivated by cash somewhat than ideology, however a letter written to his Soviet handlers in 1985 explains a big payoff might have precipitated issues as a result of he couldn’t spend it with out setting off warning bells.

Using the alias “Ramon Garcia,” he handed some 6,000 paperwork and 26 pc disks to his handlers, authorities mentioned. They detailed eavesdropping strategies, helped to verify the id of Russian double brokers, and spilled different secrets and techniques. Officials additionally believed he tipped off Moscow to a secret tunnel the Americans constructed below the Soviet Embassy in Washington for eavesdropping.

He went undetected for years, however later investigations discovered missed pink flags. After he grew to become the main target of a hunt for a Russian mole, Hanssen was caught taping a rubbish bag filled with secrets and techniques to the underside of a footbridge in a park in a “dead drop” for Russian handlers.

The story was made right into a movie titled Breach in 2007, staring Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe as a younger bureau operative who helps carry him down.

The FBI has been notified of Hanssen’s demise, in accordance with the Bureau of Prisons.