Ex-CIA chief David Petraeus gets probation, $100,000 fine in leak case

The retired four-star general apologised as he admitted to giving the information to his mistress, who was writing his biography. He agreed under a plea deal to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The judge raised the fine from the $40,000 that had been recommended, noting it needed to be higher to be punitive.

"This increased fine amount is necessary so the combined sentence reflects the seriousness of the offense," said US Magistrate Judge David Keesler during the hearing.

Petraeus, 62, who served stints as the top US commander in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned from the CIA in 2012 after it was revealed that he was having an affair with the biographer, Army Reserve officer Paula Broadwell.

Dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, he showed no emotion as he read from a prepared statement in court.

"Today marks the end of a two-and-a-half year ordeal that resulted from mistakes that I made," he told reporters after the sentencing. "As I did in the past, I apologise to those closest to me and many others."

Petraeus was accompanied by three attorneys, but it did not appear that his family members attended the hearing, nor did Broadwell, who lives in Charlotte.

Keesler noted that defense attorneys submitted letters from heads of state and high-ranking US military officials calling Petraeus one of the finest military leaders of his generation.

Keesler said he had "committed a grave but very uncharacteristic error in judgment."

Civil liberties and government transparency advocates had questioned the plea deal, saying the government's lenient treatment of Petraeus suggested prosecutors maintain double standards. Defendants in other leak cases have received harsher punishments, including prison.

Petraeus' attorney, David Kendall, said in court it would have been unprecedented to incarcerate the former general for the charge he faced.

"This is not a case about the dissemination to the public of classified information," Kendall said. "No classified information appeared in the biography. Not a single syllable."

A court document signed by Petraeus and prosecutors says that in 2011, before he became the CIA director, the four-star general illegally gave Broadwell access to official binders.

Known as "black books," the binders contained classified information including identities of covert officers, code word information, war strategy, intelligence capabilities, diplomatic talks and information from high-level White House National Security Council meetings, according to court records.

Petraeus also was accused of improperly storing classified materials at his residence and falsely telling the FBI in October 2012 that he had not shared any classified information with Broadwell.

US prosecutor James Melendres noted that Petraeus had been entrusted with the government's highest secrets.

"The defendant betrayed that trust," he said in court.