Edward Snowden, who is living in exile in Russia after leaking classified intelligence documents from his time as a CIA defense contractor, has agreed to give up more than $5 million earned from a book of speeches to the U.S. government, CNN reports, citing court records.
Snowden's book "Permanent Record" was published last year without approval of the government. That violated contracts he signed with the CIA and National Security Agency.
The Justice Department sued to get Snowden's profits. A federal judge has sided with the department and is considering how much Snowden must pay. The judge has not approved the plan, according to CNN.
Snowden had earned $4.2 million from book sales, royalties, and other rights. He also has given 56 paid speeches in which he included information that breached his government secrecy agreement, the court filing from his lawyers and the Justice Department said. He made about $1.03 million total from those speeches.
The money is going into a trust per mutual agreement between Snowden and the Trump administration.
An attorney for Snowden said he is considering an appeal.
"This is not like he's going to fork over the money; this gives them a judgment they were going to get anyways," Lawrence Lustberg, said, adding it might be hard for the government to get Snowden's money if it is kept out of the United States.
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