Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni (born 1935) is a physicist who, according to the United States government, attempted to sell nuclear secrets to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent posing as a Venezuelan spy.
[3] In the 1980s he was suspected by some of his superiors of being a spy for Argentina,[4] and whilst never charged (and no evidence being found by the FBI),[citation needed] was stripped of his security clearance and fired from Los Alamos in 1987.
[3] He left Los Alamos after a controversy surrounding his idea of using hydrogen fluoride lasers to generate nuclear fusion.
Mascheroni allegedly charged the phony Venezuelan agent $793,000 for the 132-page document, which he titled A Deterrence Program for Venezuela.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, who has denied being interested in developing nuclear weapons,[7] has been critical of the United States' conduct in the Mascheroni case, "suggesting the FBI deliberately created a disinformation campaign.