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Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arraigned Thursday on 21 counts of spying and is scheduled for trial in late October

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Accused FBI spy Robert Hanssen pleaded not guilty Thursday to 21 charges of conspiracy and espionage, including 14 charges that could carry the death penalty.

The fired FBI agent is accused of selling U.S. secrets to Moscow over a 15-year period in exchange for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

Attorneys for Hanssen -- a 25-year FBI veteran -- have told CNN that talks about a possible plea bargain had fallen apart when the government refused to drop the possible use of the death penalty.

Prosecutors say Hanssen passed as many as 6,000 pages of top-secret documents to Soviet and Russian agents during the 15-year period, which began in the 1980s. Among the information Hanssen allegedly provided the KGB -- Moscow's intelligence-gathering agency -- were the identities of three KGB officers who were U.S. double agents. Two were executed when they returned to Moscow.

DOCUMENTS Read the documents in the Hanssen case (FindLaw) (PDF) • Indictment (U.S. v. Hanssen) Part 1 | Part 2 • Criminal complaint • Support affidavit • Authority to seek the death penalty if convicted, 18 USC 794(b)  MESSAGE BOARD Security threats     LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

Dressed in a green prison jumpsuit, Hanssen appeared pale and gaunt, according to CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena. Hanssen's son-in-law and at least one former co-worker were in attendance during the two-minute arraignment.

"We've just set a new modern record for arraignments," said Hanssen's attorney, Plato Cacheris, outside the suburban Washington courthouse following the proceeding.

"Mr. Hanssen entered a not guilty plea to all charges today," Cacheris said. "That not guilty plea entitles him to the presumption of innocence which will carry throughout this trial. In due course, we will be filing motions, some under seal ... some in open court, attacking this indictment and this case. If anything survives, we'll be back here on the 29th of October for a trial."

Hanssen was arrested in February.

On Monday, the FBI confirmed that a former agent who pleaded guilty to spying in 1997 told them four years ago that Hanssen was involved in suspicious activity.

The former agent, Earl Pitts, is serving a 27-year sentence for espionage.

The identification of Hanssen by Pitts occurred more than three years before the FBI has said it began to focus on Hanssen as a possible spy in late 2000.

In a prison interview, published in The New York Times, Pitts said he told FBI interrogators during a post-guilty-plea debriefing that Hanssen may have been involved in suspicious activity.

FBI spokesman John Collingwood said in a statement: "Pitts described as 'unusual' a computer hacking incident involving Hanssen. Pitts did not identify Hanssen as a spy."

CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena contributed to this report.