An Australian man has been sentenced to more than seven years behind bars in the United States for selling secrets to a Russian-linked broker.
Peter Williams was sentenced in a District of Columbia court to 87 months imprisonment for selling his employer’s trade secrets, which included sensitive cyber material, to a Russian cyber-tools broker.
District Attorney-General Jeanine Pirro said the powerful cyber tools would have given Russia the power to access millions of digital devices.
‘By betraying a position of trust and selling sensitive American technology, Williams’ crime is not only one of theft, it is a crime of national security,’ he said.
‘Our nation’s defence capabilities are not commodities to be auctioned off.’
Williams will also be supervised for three years with special conditions after his release and will forfeit $US1.3 million ($A1.8million) worth of assets, including cryptocurrency, a house and luxury items like watches and jewellery.
The highly sensitive cyber capabilities were sold to a broker who deals with the Russian government, the FBI said.
It was alleged he sold the secrets for millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency.
An Australian man has been sentenced to more than seven years behind bars in the United States for selling secrets to a Russian-linked broker (picturedm the US Department of Justice building)
Peter Williams was sentenced in a District of Columbia court to 87 months imprisonment for selling his employer’s trade secrets, which included sensitive cyber material (stock image)
The financial loss to his employer was valued at $US35 million ($A49million).
Williams pleaded guilty to theft of trade secrets on October 29, 2025.
The US State Department confirmed the Russian broker accused of selling US government cyber secrets was Matrix LLC, also known as ‘Operation Zero’, when it announced sanctions on the entity on Wednesday (Australian time).
‘From 2022 to 2025, Peter Williams, an Australian national, stole eight trade secret ‘zero-day exploits,’ techniques that leverage software vulnerabilities for which there are no patches, from his employer, a US defence contractor,’ the State Department said.
‘Those components were meant to be sold exclusively to the US government and select allies.’
The US also sanctioned the Russian director and sole owner of Operation Zero, Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk.