Former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on charges accusing him of unlawfully sharing and storing classified national defense information. The indictment claims Bolton used personal email accounts to send top secret material to family members and kept sensitive government documents at his home in Bethesda.

Unsealed Thursday, the filing charges Bolton, 76, with eight counts of transmitting national defense information and ten counts of unlawful retention under the Espionage Act, along with related counts involving the unauthorized removal and storage of classified materials. The Justice Department said the case centers on the alleged mishandling of documents classified as Top Secret.

According to the indictment, Bolton used personal email and messaging accounts to send diary-style notes containing classified intelligence gathered during his time as national security adviser. The materials included information about a foreign adversary’s plans to attack U.S. forces, covert operations overseas, and communications between American and foreign officials. Investigators say Bolton also kept classified documents at his residence after leaving office, despite being required to return or properly store such materials.

Bolton, a veteran figure in Republican national security circles, served in senior foreign policy roles under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. He was appointed national security adviser during Trump’s first term in 2018 and left the White House the following year after policy disagreements with the administration. In 2020, he published The Room Where It Happened, a memoir critical of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs that drew widespread attention and led to a legal dispute with the Justice Department over classified material.

The Justice Department said the charges followed a detailed investigation led by career national security prosecutors and the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated that “there is one tier of justice for all Americans” and that those who endanger national security “will be held accountable.”

The indictment also outlines that Bolton told the FBI in July 2021 his personal email account had been hacked by individuals believed to be linked to the Iranian government. Federal agents contend he did not disclose that he had transmitted or stored classified material through that account, which may have exposed restricted information to foreign access.

Following the unsealing of the indictment, Bolton appeared before a federal judge in Maryland on Friday and pleaded not guilty to all charges. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Bolton intends to challenge the allegations and maintain that the materials in question were not classified. The court released Bolton under standard conditions while the case proceeds.

If convicted, Bolton faces up to ten years in prison for each count of unlawful retention or transmission of classified information.