Russian opposition activist and a municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district Ilya Yashin stands in a cage at a court room during a hearing on his detention the Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Yashin faces charges under a new law making it a crime to spread false information about the military that carry a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Photo: AP/Dmitry Serebryakov

Joshua Schulte, who chose to defend himself at a New York City retrial, had told jurors in closing arguments that the CIA and FBI made him a scapegoat for an embarrassing public release of a trove of CIA secrets by WikiLeaks in 2017.

Schulte watched without visibly reacting as U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman announced the guilty verdict on nine counts, which was reached in mid-afternoon by a jury that has deliberated since Friday.

A sentencing date was not immediately set because Schulte still awaits trial on child pornography possession and transport charges. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

The so-called Vault 7 leak revealed how the CIA hacked Apple and Android smartphones in overseas spying operations and efforts to turn internet-connected televisions into listening devices. Prior to his arrest, Schulte had helped create the hacking tools as a coder at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.