Prosecutors will ask for a life sentence for a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was convicted of selling top secret information to China, ABC News reports.

Kevin Mallory, a 61-year-old former CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency officer, was convicted last year under the Espionage Act for selling classified information to Chinese nationals. His defense claimed that he was trying to lure the Chinese into a trap by agreeing to trade the information. He was convicted of conspiracy to sell secrets to the Chinese, which carries a life sentence.

Mallory was a CIA case officer in the 1990’s before he became a senior intelligence officer for the DIA in the early 2000’s, after which he returned to work at the CIA as a contractor from 2010 to 2012. At that point he lost his security clearance for improperly disclosing classified documents, according to court records obtained by NBC News.

Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that Mallory, “who was entrusted with our nation’s critical secrets, put our country and human lives—including the lives of assets—at risk for financial gain. He then lied about his actions and took steps to conceal them. Accordingly, the nature and circumstances of the offenses amply demonstrate why a sentence of life imprisonment is appropriate."