A Justice Department employee from New York who was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in an early Cold War trial has died.

Judith Socolov was 89. Her daughter, Emily Socolov, says she died in Manhattan.

Ms Socolov was Judith Coplon when she was arrested in 1949 with a Soviet agent in Manhattan.

Intercepted Soviet cables had raised the US government’s suspicions, and the FBI gave her access to a fake memo. Prosecutors said the fake document, as well as real ones, were on her when she was arrested.

Growing awareness of Soviet spying, coupled with a young woman as defendant, brought attention to her two trials.

Her convictions for espionage and conspiracy were overturned by the early 1950s for reasons including illegal wiretapping.

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