Alexander Yuk Ching Ma

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma (; born 1952) is an American former CIA clandestine officer accused of acting as a double agent on behalf of the People's Republic of China, gaining employment with the FBI in order to act as a mole. He was arrested in August 2020, charged under the Espionage Act with conspiring along with his brother, also a former CIA officer, to pass classified information to officials of the Chinese Ministry of State Security. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Early life and CIA career Born in British Hong Kong in 1952, Ma and his older brother, David, born in nationalist Chinese Shanghai in 1936, moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1968 and became US citizens, attending the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Following graduation, David joined the CIA as a clandestine officer assigned to the Far East at the height of the Vietnam war.

In 1983, David Ma resigned from the CIA after an investigation found he inappropriately used his position to assist Chinese nationals obtain entry into the United States. Within the same year, then 30-year old Alex joined the agency, also as a clandestine officer. Following training at The Farm, the younger Ma was also sent to the Far East.

In 1989, Alex Ma abruptly left the agency, and around 1995 he moved to Shanghai. The day before starting his new job with the FBI, Ma called a suspected accomplice to inform them he would now be working full-time for "the other side."

Over the following six years with the FBI, Ma regularly copied, photographed and stole classified documents, bringing many of them with him on frequent trips to China with the intent to provide them to his handlers. Customs declarations indicated that Ma often returned from China with thousands of dollars in cash and expensive gifts, such as a new set of golf clubs. The Justice Department identified Ma's older brother, David, as an unindicted co-conspirator to the crimes, but deemed him unfit to stand trial due to his advanced neurological decline from an Alzheimer’s diagnosis ten years prior. In 2021, Alexander Ma claimed to be having memory problems and asked for a mental competency evaluation. In February 2023, he was deemed competent to stand trial.

Guilty plea On May 24, 2024, Ma pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage.

In September 2024, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison as part of a plea bargain.