Edward Snowden has agreed to forfeit to the U.S. government more than $5 million in sales of his autobiography, Permanent Record, and speaking fees.
An agreement was filed in court on Tuesday after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Justice Department, which argued that the famous leaker violated a nondisclosure agreement during paid speaking engagements and in passages of his book. The money will go into a trust, according to the agreed-upon plan, although the judge has not yet approved it.
Snowden made more than $4 million in book sales and a little over $1 million across 56 paid speaking engagements over the last year, according to court documents.
Still, Snowden’s attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, said his 37-year-old client is considering an appeal of the decision, and no money will be paid to the U.S. government right away.
“This is not like he’s going to fork over the money,” the attorney told CNN. “This gives them a judgment they were going to get anyways.”
Snowden worked at the CIA prior to a stint as a contractor for the National Security Agency. In 2013, he left his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, flew to Hong Kong, and disclosed hundreds of thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists beginning the next month. Snowden revealed not just domestic surveillance programs but also exposed national security operations around the world by the U.S. and its allies. Snowden, who was granted asylum by Russia and lives in Moscow, was charged with violating the Espionage Act.
President Trump told reporters last month he was going “to take a very good look at” Snowden’s situation after some of his allies have become more vocal about pardoning him.
“There are many, many people — it seems to be a split decision that many people think that he should be somehow treated differently, and other people think he did very bad things,” Trump said of Snowden. “And I’m going to take a very good look at it.”
