The United States Department of Justice announced on Monday that it had filed charges against thirteen officials and alleged Chinese intelligence operatives for espionage and abuse on U.S. soil, acting on behalf of the Beijing government.
Among those indicted are two Chinese agents accused of attempting to interfere with a federal probe into a New York–based telecommunications company, with possible links to Huawei.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department’s second-in-command Lisa O. Monaco, and FBI Director Christopher Wray joined by Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen held a press conference to outline the case and emphasize the gravity of the allegations.
Accurate information
According to the indictments, the two defendants in 2019 sought to have an infiltrating FBI agent steal classified information connected to a lawsuit involving a China-based telecom company. Their goal appeared to be building a valuable asset, but the agents were unaware they were working with a government-controlled double agent serving the United States.
The prosecutors contend that the Chinese operatives offered bribes to the double agent in exchange for non-public data, including an outline of the U.S. Attorney’s strategy in the case and access to documents from the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. The information supposedly provided by the agent seemed authentic on the surface, yet it had been prepared to build a narrative of espionage by Chinese actors.
Garland also noted that in a separate matter in the District of New Jersey, another indictment targeted four individuals identified as acting as illegal agents for a foreign government, with three of them named as Chinese intelligence personnel.
An institute as a cover
The indictment describes the period between 2008 and 2018, during which the defendants allegedly used a so-called Chinese academic institute as a front for intelligence work aimed at individuals in the United States and other operational missions for Beijing.
Among the reported activities were attempts to acquire U.S. technology and shipment of equipment to China, as well as efforts to disrupt domestic protests in a way that would embarrass the Chinese government, according to Garland.
A third case, filed in the Eastern District of New York, involves seven individuals accused of acting for Beijing with the aim of threatening, harassing, and pressuring a U.S.-based person to return to China.
Garland stated that two defendants were arrested the previous Thursday and noted that China often moves wanted individuals from one country to another to compel their return home. The Attorney General underscored that such actions undermine the rights and freedoms protected by American law and challenge the integrity of the judicial process. The Justice Department pledged to counter any foreign power’s efforts to subvert the U.S. legal system and to defend the rule of law in the United States.