A federal grand jury has indicted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on 18 felony charges for his alleged involvement in the 2010 leak of classified documents by Chelsea Manning, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Prosecutors revealed the charges during a conference call with reporters on Thursday. The indictment includes 17 new counts against Assange, in addition to one charge that was unsealed shortly after Assange was arrested in London in April. Each count carries a maximum sentence of between five and 10 years if convicted.
The indictment alleges Assange "engaged in real-time discussions regarding Chelsea Manning's transmission of classified records to Assange" and "actively encouraged" Manning to hack into a military computer network.
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