Lockard continued, and the last of the defendants he'd testified against, Joseph Hunter, would be sentenced in the new year. The judge could sentence him as soon as the spring.

Sitting only a few feet away from me, Le Roux looked smaller up close, enveloped by his blue jail scrubs. He sat with his shoul- ders hunched at the defense table, polite and subdued in his an- swers to the judge's questions. He asked for time to confer with Donaldson before completing the switch. The judge adjourned for two weeks to allow him to do so. "I appreciate it so much, believe me," I heard him say to Donaldson, as he stood up.

Two U.S. marshals moved in to stand guard as he plodded out of the courtroom, glancing periodically over their shoulders to as- sess possible threats to the U.S. government's once-prized asset. When I looked around the rows of the gallery, though, it was empty except for me.