Morton Sobell was an American electrical engineer who stole information from his employer, General Electric, and passed it along to the Soviet Union. He was implicated in the same Soviet spy ring that included Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
During World War II, Sobell worked as an electrical engineer for General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. During that time, Sobell stole information about secret war-related projects, including anti-aircraft gun designs. After accusations of his espionage emerged in 1950, Sobell and his family fled to Mexico but were later kidnapped by armed men and returned to the United States, where they were turned over to the FBI. In 1951, Sobell was tried and convicted of espionage in connection with Julius Rosenberg and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He was released after serving seventeen years and nine months.
Sobell maintained his innocence for much of his life and claimed that his conviction was a case of justice being subverted to serve political goals. In 2008, at the age of ninety-one, Sobell told the New York Times that he did in fact turn over military secrets to the Soviets during World War II. He currently resides in Bronx, New York.