Robert Hanssen: FBI agent who infamously spied for Russia for 20 years found dead in supermax cell

Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who infamously spied for Russia for two decades, was found dead in his Colorado supermax prison cell, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Hanssen, 79, was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to life after pleading guilty to selling highly classified material to first the Soviet Union and then Russia in return for more than $1.4m in diamonds, cash and foreign bank deposits.

Officials say that Hanssen was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal prison in Florence, Colorado, on Monday morning.

“Staff requested emergency medical services and life-saving efforts continued,” said Bureau of Prisons Director of Communications Kristie Breshears in a statement. “The inmate was subsequently pronounced dead by outside emergency medical personnel.”