A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after he was accused of operating a “secret police station” on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the US attorney general that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China’s government locate a pro-democracy activist living in California. Lu was arrested in April 2023. He had…
Tag: US crime
Mayor of California city resigns over charges of being a foreign agent of China
Eileen Wang, the mayor of a southern California city, resigned suddenly on Monday after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced she had been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent of China. Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and could face a sentence of 10 years in prison. “Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” said Bill Essayli, an assistant US attorney. “This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland…
Man who allegedly planted bomb at US airbase at large after fleeing to China
A man who allegedly planted a bomb that went undiscovered for a week in the visitors center of the Florida headquarters of US Central Command, which oversees the ongoing war in Iran, remained at large on Friday after fleeing to China. Authorities charged Alen Zheng and his sister Ann Mary Zheng, both US citizens in separate indictments this week for their alleged role in planting the explosive device at MacDill air force base. Ann Mary Zheng was arrested in the US after a short trip to China, and was arraigned…
Chinese scientist charged with smuggling pathogen into US to be deported
A Chinese scientist charged in Michigan with smuggling biological materials pleaded guilty on Wednesday, but was given no additional time in jail beyond the five months she already spent in custody. Yunqing Jian, who was a temporary researcher at a University of Michigan lab, will be released and quickly deported. A judge called it a “very strange” case involving an “incredibly accomplished researcher”. Jian, 33, was arrested in June and accused of conspiring with a boyfriend to study and nurse a toxic fungus at a campus lab. A pathogen known…
Trump pardons former New York cop convicted of helping Beijing harass Chinese expatriate
Donald Trump granted a presidential pardon on Friday to a former New York police sergeant who was convicted of helping China try to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland, a prominent case in US authorities’ efforts to combat what they claim are Beijing’s far-flung efforts to repress critics. Michael McMahon was sentenced this spring to 18 months in prison for his role in what a federal judge called “a campaign of transnational repression”. He insisted he was innocent, saying he was “unwittingly used” when he took what…
Delayed US report on global human trafficking is released
The US Department of State has released a long-delayed, legally required report on human trafficking after an investigation by the Guardian and bipartisan pressure from Congress. The 2025 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which details conditions in the United States and more than 185 countries, was initially scheduled for release at an event in June featuring the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the Guardian has reported, but the event was scrapped and staff at the state department office charged with leading the federal government’s fight against human trafficking were…
US announces actions against 14 foreign companies for importing fentanyl
The US has announced sanctions and indictments against 14 Chinese and Canadian firms for importing fentanyl, one of the most sweeping actions yet to target trafficking of the powerful synthetic opiate. Officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies announced the actions on Tuesday. The indictments and sanctions target what officials described as a “major China-based syndicate” that sold fentanyl to drug dealers and international cartels, the Associated Press reported. The majority of those indicted are based in China but some are based…
Three men including ex-NYPD officer convicted of harassing Chinese exile
A former New York City police sergeant and two Chinese citizens living in the US have been convicted of various charges in a trial showcasing Chinese efforts to pressure expatriates into returning home, part of a program called “Operation Fox Hunt”. Michael McMahon, who now works as a private investigator, Zheng Congying and Zhu Yong were accused of taking part in scare tactics aimed at a former Chinese official. Zhu was convicted of acting as an illegal foreign agent, stalking, interstate stalking conspiracy and conspiring to act as an illegal…
Woman who trespassed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort deported to China
A Chinese businesswoman convicted of trespassing at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and lying to Secret Service agents has been deported, federal authorities said, more than two years after serving her sentence. Yujing Zhang was turned over to immigration officials in December 2019 after serving an eight-month sentence for trespassing at Trump’s resort in March that year. But she was held at the Glades County Detention Center for three times as long as her prison term mainly because of deportation delays during the Covid-19 pandemic, immigration authorities told the Miami Herald.…