The FBI has arrested two accused Chinese operatives, and federal prosecutors have charged dozens more with attempting to suppress and harass dissidents in the United States, with some even running a “undeclared police station” in New York City.
Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping allegedly ran the Chinatown police station in New York City. Both men are US citizens who have been charged with conspiracy to operate as Chinese government agents and obstructing justice. According to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the police station has been closed since a search warrant was executed there last fall.
The two men appeared in court on Monday, and Lu was released on a $250,000 bond, while Chen was released on a $400,000 bond. They are not allowed to travel within half a mile of the Chinese consulate or mission, nor are they allowed to speak with co-conspirators. Neither has pleaded guilty.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China], through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
Two criminal complaints filed by the US Attorney’s Office were also unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, charging 44 defendants with various crimes related to efforts by the PRC’s national police, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), to harass Chinese nationals residing in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere in the United States.
The defendants, which included 40 MPS officers and two officials from China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC), allegedly carried out transnational repression schemes against US residents whose political views and actions were deemed unacceptable by the PRC government, such as advocating for democracy in the PRC.
The defendants in the two schemes created and used phony social media profiles to harass and intimidate PRC dissidents living overseas, as well as to stifle the dissidents’ free expression on the platform of a US telecoms firm.
“China’s Ministry of Public Security used operatives to target people of Chinese descent who had the courage to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party – in one case by covertly spreading propaganda to undermine confidence in our democratic processes and, in another, by suppressing U.S. video conferencing users’ free speech,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. “We aren’t going to tolerate CCP repression – its efforts to threaten, harass, and intimidate people – here in the United States.”
The MPS allegedly told the charged agents to create and maintain accounts that appeared to be controlled by American citizens. According to prosecutors, the topics of their propaganda machine include US foreign policy, human rights issues in Hong Kong, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Covid-19, and racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd.
According to the Justice Department, agents also disseminated videos and articles targeting Chinese pro-democracy activists in the United States, some of which carried explicit death threats. Furthermore, the spies allegedly threatened people into skipping pro-democracy protests in the United States.
The covert police station, according to court records, was established in early 2022 to locate, track, and intimidate Chinese dissidents in the United States.
According to prosecutors, one such victim was an anonymous California resident who was a “PRC dissident and PRC pro-democracy advocate” who “reported to the FBI that he/she served as an adviser to a 2022 congressional candidate from New York State” who was also the focus of a PRC pressure campaign.
That victim told the FBI that they had gotten threatening phone calls and social media messages from people they suspect are linked with the Chinese government, and that their car had been broken into shortly after giving a pro-democracy speech.
During an interview with the FBI, Lu stated that he established the office, which he referred to as a “oversees service center,” to assist Chinese nationals living in the United States in “renewing Chinese government documents.” Lu also stated that Chen was the primary point of contact with officials in China.
According to court filings, Chen originally denied having any direct contact with the Chinese government during a separate interview, but later recanted.
Chen took a seven-minute bathroom break during the interrogation, the investigators relayed, during which an agent repeatedly told him through the bathroom door not to remove anything on his phone. Agents then discovered that chat records with MPS officials had been cleared when they searched the phone.
According to prosecution documents, Lu and Chen eventually admitted to deleting texts between themselves and their MPS liaison.
Information for this briefing was found via CNN and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
