US News
Nuclear scientist accused of spying settles privacy case
By DPA
Jun 3, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - A nuclear scientist once accused of stealing documents for China has settled his privacy lawsuit with the US government and five US media organizations, media reports said Friday.

Wen Ho Lee, who worked at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory in the US until he was accused of spying in 1999, will receive 1.65 million dollars, ending his lawsuit, in which he said his privacy had been violated by news leaks.

Under the settlement, the government will pay 895,000 dollars, while the Associated Press, the New York Times, ABC News, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times will pay 750,000 dollars as part of a separate settlement.

'The case has been settled,' Betsy Miller, an attorney with Jones Day in Washington who represented Lee, confirmed to Bloomberg News.

Lee was fired from Los Alamos in March 1999 and held in solitary confinement for nine months after being accused of spying and stealing classified documents from the laboratory.

But the US never charged him with espionage, and the government later dropped all but one charge over the mishandling of classified data. Lee pleaded guilty to the remaining charge in 2000.

Lee later filed his privacy suit against the US Justice and Energy Department, accusing the government and FBI of leaking information about his case to reporters. Lee then subpoenaed five reporters in August 2001 in an attempt to discover their sources.

A judge later held the reporters from the five news organizations in contempt for refusing to comply with the subpoena, imposing a penalty of 500 dollars per day.

'This is a great result for Dr Lee,'' Miller told Bloomberg.

'The fact that both parties, the government and the journalists, made substantial contributions demonstrates that they were aware they faced significant exposure if the case were to go to trial,' she said.