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Former US Navy cipher officer sentenced to 30 years to attempt to transfer secrets to RF

WASHINGTON, February 11, /ITAR-TASS/. A court in Norfolk, Virginia, on Monday passed a guilty verdict on Robert Hoffman, a retired cipher officer of the U.S. Navy, and sentenced him to 30 years in jail for an ostensible attempt of espionage for Russia.

Hoffman was initially facing a life sentence for an attempt to transfer secrets to FBI agents who passed themselves off for agents of Russian intelligence services.

Prosecution said Hoffman had allegedly handed some confidential data on U.S. naval ships to them.

Hoffman served at the U.S. Navy for about twenty years and retired in November 2011. He was arrested in December 2012 and charges were issued to him six months later.