A retired New York City police sergeant and two other men were convicted of charges including acting as illegal agents of the Chinese government for pressuring dissidents to return to China.
(Bloomberg) — A retired New York City police sergeant and two other men were convicted of charges including acting as illegal agents of the Chinese government for pressuring dissidents to return to China.
A federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday found that between 2016 and 2019 the three engaged in an illicit law enforcement operation. Among other acts, they conducted surveillance on a New Jersey resident and his family, and one target of their campaign was told to choose between returning to China and committing suicide, the US alleged.
The Chinese government variously called the effort “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Sky Net.” The case — the first to go to trial in the US Justice Department’s prosecution of Fox Hunt — came amid a rise in US-China tensions that persists today on issues including access to semiconductors and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Read the Justice Department’s statement on the convictions here
The three convicted defendants are Michael McMahon, 55, the retired sergeant; Zheng Congying, 27; and Zhu Yong, 66, also known as Jason Zhu. The charges also included conspiracy to commit interstate stalking. McMahon faces as many as 20 years in prison, Zheng as many as 10 and Zhu up to 25, according to Breon Peace, the US attorney in Brooklyn.
“The jury’s verdict confirms that defendants McMahon and Zhu knowingly acted at the direction of a hostile foreign state to harass, intimidate and attempt to cause the involuntary return of a resident of the New York metropolitan area to the People’s Republic of China, and that defendant Zheng harassed and intimidated that same person and his family,” Peace said in a statement.
Lawyers for all three said they would appeal the convictions.
Read More: DOJ Charges Eight Chinese for Efforts to Round Up Dissidents
When the charges against McMahon and the others were announced in October 2020, China’s Foreign Ministry said the nation had been “carrying out law enforcement cooperation with other countries in accordance with international law and bilateral agreements.”
Evidence presented at a three-week trial showed that China caused the international police group Interpol to issue “red notices” for the New Jersey resident and his wife, claiming they were wanted by Chinese authorities on corruption charges. Zhu then hired McMahon to obtain detailed information about them from a law enforcement database, according to prosecutors.
“It is particularly troubling that defendant Michael McMahon, a former sergeant in the New York City Police Department, engaged in surveillance, harassment and stalking on behalf of a foreign power for money,” Peace said.
The jury deliberated for about two days before returning its verdict. The defendants were among a group of eight originally charged.
The case is US v. Hu Ji, 21-cr-265, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
Read More: Years of Chinese Spying Led to Consulate Closing, U.S. Says
–With assistance from Chris Strohm.
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