Pitts, Earl Edwin

(1945– )

   An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) serving in New York, Pitts volunteered to work for the KGB in a letter that he sent to the Soviet security officer at the United Nations. Pitt then worked for the KGB from 1987 until 1992 and received $240,000 for providing top secret FBI documents. He met with his KGB case officer, Aleksandr Karpov, in New York on nine occasions, but for the most part he communicated with Karpov and other KGB officers through dead drops. Pitt was eventually identified to the FBI by Karpov and by his wife Mary, who suspected his betrayal. The FBI set up an elaborate sting to obtain legal evidence for a trial. Over more than a year, Pitts met with FBI agents masquerading as Russian intelligence officers, and he provided information for more than $60,000 in payments. Pitts was arrested in 1996 and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Asked his motivation for spying, he said it was “to pay them back,” referring to a number of unspecified grievances against the FBI.