ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A judge, citing national security concerns, Tuesday kept accused spies Aldrich and Rosario Ames in jail without bond.
"The court believes there is a danger to the community" if CIA veteran Ames and his wife are released, said federal Magistrate Barry Poretz.
The Ameses now go before a grand jury that decides whether to indict them on charges of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia for $ 2.7 million.
Referring to the couple's $ 540,000 home and other luxuries, prosecutor Mark Hulkower said, "They have sold out their country to support that lifestyle."
Aldrich Ames, 52, is accused of providing secrets; his wife Rosario, 41, is accused of working with him and is portrayed as "encouraging . . . and directing" her husband's activities.
Among evidence reportedly found in the couple's home:
-- Lists of Soviet requests. No. 1 was names of U.S. spies inside Soviet security.
-- Copies of letters to Russian spies Ames addressed as "my dearest friends."
-- A letter citing $ 2.7 million in earnings, spread among several banks, including a famed BCCI scandal thrift in Rome.
FBI agent Leslie Wiser Jr. testified that many of those fingered by Ames "have been arrested and shot and killed."
Ames' lawyer, Plato Cacheris, said the prosecution has nothing but "speculation and innuendo of what he did."
William Cummings, lawyer for Rosario Ames, said the case against her is "far weaker."
