Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, reaches plea deal to avoid prison in US

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has entered into a plea deal for his alleged role in a government data breach as part of an agreement with the Justice Department that will allow him to avoid imprisonment, according to newly filed federal court documents.

Assange will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose information related to the national defense in a U.S. federal court in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific, this week, according to newly filed court papers.

Assange spent five years in a British prison fighting extradition to the United States. 

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The charges stem from one of the largest publications of classified information in American history.

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