Bonnie Hanssen Obituary – Cause of Death: Former FBI agent convicted of spying for Russia, Robert Hanssen dies at 79.
The Bureau of Prisons reports that Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent and one of the most destructive spies in American history, was discovered dead in his cell on Monday morning.
Hanssen, 79, admitted selling highly sensitive material to the Soviet Union and later to Russia after being detained in 2001. He was incarcerated in a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, where he was serving a life sentence.
Hanssen was discovered to be unconscious, and staff began life-saving procedures right away, according to a statement from Kristie Breshears, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons.
Breshears stated that “staff requested emergency medical services and life-saving efforts continued.” After that, outside emergency medical personnel declared the prisoner dead.
Two informed sources claim that Hanssen appeared to have passed away naturally.
In 1979, Hanssen approached the Soviets three years after being hired by the FBI, and he started spying for the KGB and its successor, the SVR. A few years later, when his wife confronted him, he stopped.
In 1985, he picked up espionage again, selling tens of thousands of top-secret documents that jeopardized counterintelligence methods and investigations for more than $1.4 million in cash, jewels, and foreign bank deposits. He never really met a Russian handler while operating under the alias “Ramon Garcia,” but instead shared intelligence with the spy services via dead drops and encrypted communications.