Stephen Joseph Ratkai is a Hungarian-Canadian who was arrested, charged and convicted of espionage in

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, in February 1989. Ratkai was born near

Antigonish, Nova Scotia , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = File:St Ninian's Cathedral Antigonish Spring.jpg , image_caption = St. Ninian's Cathedral , image_flag = Flag of Antigonish.pn ...

, but spent his formative years in both the

People's Republic of Hungary The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949 to 23 October 1989. It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet U ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

after his father returned to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. While studying chemical engineering in Budapest, he was recruited by

Soviet Intelligence This is a list of historical secret police organizations. In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names. Few still exist under the same name as legitimate police fo ...

to become a courier for information on the

SOSUS The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a submarine detection system based on passive sonar developed by the United States Navy to track Soviet Navy, Soviet submarines. The system's true nature was classified with the name and acronym SOSUS them ...

network site at the US

Naval Station A Naval Station was a geographic command responsible for conducting all naval operations within its defined area. It may consist of flotillas, or squadrons, or individual ships under command. The British Royal Navy for command purposes was separ ...

Argentia, Newfoundland Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which r ...

. Ratkai was caught in a sting operation jointly organized by the US

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serve ...

, the

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...

(CSIS) and the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP) and was arrested after receiving documents from a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

in June 1988. He pleaded guilty to charges of espionage in February 1989 and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Biography

Ratkai was born in 1963 (25 years old in 1988) near Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He had a troubled childhood: his mother killed his half-sister and herself when he was five years old, and his father returned to Budapest with his young son. Ratkai grew up in both Hungary and Canada, finishing high school in Canada and attempting unsuccessfully to join the Canadian Forces when he was 19. Rejected on physical grounds, he returned to Budapest and studied chemical engineering.

Espionage

While studying in Hungary, Ratkai was recruited by Soviet Intelligence to act as a courier for operations in Canada. His first mission was to receive documents from an apparently disaffected US Navy officer stationed in Argentia, Newfoundland. The officer, Lieutenant Donna Geiger, was actually a double agent, and the entire situation was a "sting" operation concocted by the US

Naval Investigative Service The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate criminal activities involving the Navy and Marine Corps, though it ...

; after meeting her several times, receiving documents pertaining to the US SOSUS network, and paying her several thousand dollars, Ratkai was arrested by the RCMP at the

Hotel Newfoundland The Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland is a 4-star hotel in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, operating under the Marriott International banner. The site From the late 1690s, Fort William occupied the site. Although replaced by Fort Towns ...

in St. John's, Newfoundland on June 11, 1988. Ratkai was tried in the Newfoundland Superior court and on February 6, 1989, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted espionage and general spying under the Canadian Official Secrets Act. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Later life

Apparently a model prisoner, Ratkai was released on parole to a

Moncton, New Brunswick Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

, halfway house. He got a job as a bricklayer, and later returned to Hungary in 1993. In 1994, he was reportedly selling trucks in Budapest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratkai, Stephen Joseph 20th-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Living people Canadian people convicted of spying for the Soviet Union History of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador 1988 crimes in Canada 1988 in Newfoundland and Labrador Hungarian spies for the Soviet Union 1963 births

Biography

Espionage

Later life

See also

References