A former career U.S. diplomat told a federal judge on Thursday that he will plead guilty to charges of serving as an agent for communist Cuba for decades, an unexpectedly swift resolution to a case that prosecutors called the most brazen in the history of U.S. diplomacy. One of the betrayals. Serve.

Manuel Rocha, 73, said he will plead guilty to federal charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, and his fall from grace could result in a lengthy prison sentence.

Prosecutors and Rocha’s lawyers said the plea deal included an agreed-upon prison term, but they did not disclose details during Thursday’s hearing. He will return to court on April 12, when he will formally plead guilty and be sentenced.

Rocha’s hands and ankles were shackled when U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom asked him if he would change his plea to guilty and said, “I agree.” In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop 13 counts, including wire fraud and misrepresentation.

The brief hearing shed no new light on a question that has eluded Rocha since his arrest last December: What exactly did he do to help Cuba during his two decades at the State Department? These include serving as ambassador to Bolivia and senior positions in Argentina, Mexico, the White House and U.S. interests in Havana.

He preferred to be called “Ambassador Rocha,” and he was known among Miami’s elite for his aristocratic, almost regal demeanor that befitted his Ivy League background. His post-presidential career has included serving as special adviser to the commander of U.S. Southern Command and, more recently, as a tough-talking Donald Trump supporter and Cuban hardliner, an image that friends and prosecutors say Rocha adopted to hide One’s true allegiance.

Peter Rapp, who oversaw the FBI’s counterintelligence operations against Cuba from 1998 to 2005, said a quick resolution of the case would benefit not only the elder Rocha but also the government, which would learn a lot about Cuba. Penetration of U.S. Foreign Policy Circles.

Typically in counterintelligence cases, the defendant is accused of espionage. But Rocha was charged with the lesser crime of acting as a foreign agent, which carries a maximum sentence of five to 10 years in prison, making it easier for prosecutors and Rocha to reach a deal.

“It’s a win-win for both sides,” said Rapp, who led the investigation into Ana Montes, the highest-ranking U.S. official ever convicted of espionage in Cuba. “He was well rewarded and given the opportunity to see his family again, and the United States will be able to conduct a full damage assessment that it would not have been able to do without his cooperation.”

But the sudden agreement drew criticism from the Cuban exile community, with some legal observers fearing it amounted to a slap in the face.

“Any sentence that would allow him to see the light of day would not be justice,” said Carlos Trujillo, a Miami lawyer who served as U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States during the Trump administration. “He was a spy for a foreign adversary and put American lives at risk.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.