NEW YORK – Nine individuals have been charged with conspiring to act as illegal agents of the People’s Republic of China in a superseding indictment filed in federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The indictment, unsealed on [date], charges the defendants with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of the PRC without prior notification to the Attorney General, and engaging and conspiring to engage in interstate and international stalking. Two of the nine defendants, Tu Lan, 50, and Zhai Yongqiang, 46, both of China, are also charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly acted at the direction and under the control of PRC government officials, conducting surveillance of and engaging in a campaign to harass, stalk and coerce certain residents of the United States to return to the PRC as part of a global, concerted and extralegal repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”
The superseding indictment also alleges that Tu Lan, a new defendant who was employed as a prosecutor with the Hanyang People’s Procuratorate, traveled to the United States, directed the harassment campaign and ordered a co-conspirator to destroy evidence to obstruct the criminal investigation.
“Law enforcement officials around the world act according to a professional code of conduct,” said Acting Attorney General Mark Lesko for the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “They act to enforce the law, not to violate it in such an egregious manner. That a prosecutor and police officer not only directed and participated in a criminal scheme on U.S. soil, but then attempted to cover it up, is an affront to justice of the highest order.”
The indictment alleges that the defendants, acting as agents of the PRC, carried out an illegal and clandestine campaign to harass and threaten targeted U.S. residents in order to force them to return to the PRC.
As alleged, in and around 2012 and 2014, the PRC government caused the International Criminal Police Organization, aka Interpol, to issue “Red Notices” for John Doe #1 and his wife, Jane Doe #1. According to the Red Notices, John Doe #1 was wanted by the PRC government for “embezzlement, abuse of power [and] acceptance of bribes” which carried a maximum possible penalty of death under PRC law. Jane Doe #1 was wanted by the PRC government for “accepting bribes” which carried a maximum possible penalty of life imprisonment under PRC law.
The FBI will continue to protect those who are victims of harassment and intimidation by the government of China, or any other government practicing these tactics, said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler, for the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: International Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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