For years she was a society hostess, a prominent Chinese-American who hobnobbed with politicians, presidents and millionaires.
But on Thursday Katrina Leung (陳文英) was behind bars and Los Angeles was buzzing with news that she had been charged with being a double agent who passed classified national security information to China obtained during a secret 20-year love affair with her FBI handler.
Leung, 49, was jailed pending a hearing next week and her FBI handler, James Smith, now retired, was released on bail on charges of gross negligence for allegedly allowing Leung to obtain documents from a briefcase he left open at her posh San Marino home during "debriefing" sessions.
"There is not a lot of spy intrigue in Los Angeles politics, so people are absolutely shocked at this," a city hall insider said. "I think the ripple effects of her arrest have not yet been fully understood."
Both Leung and Smith were arrested on Wednesday after a year-long investigation. The information Leung is alleged to have passed to China included details on FBI personnel, phone lists and intelligence on the whereabouts of Chinese fugitives.
Bureau officials said on Thursday that Smith had not been given a polygraph in his nearly 30 years with the bureau, and lax oversight of his relationship with Leung appears to have violated numerous policies.
The officials added that Leung, who was paid US$1.7 million by the FBI for information on her native China over the past two decades, had not been asked to take a polygraph since the 1980s.
Leung, who runs a business consultancy and a bookstore, had a vast network of contacts, serving as a director of the influential Los Angeles World Affairs Council and secretary of the National Association of Chinese Americans. She also helped organize banquets and functions for Chinese dignitaries including one for then-premier Zhu Rongji (
"We were as surprised and shocked as anyone when the news broke regarding Ms. Leung. Ms. Leung has been a community activist for many years but has served as a volunteer board member of the council for only three months," said J. Curtis Mack, president of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
Leung's lawyers said in a statement she was a "loyal American citizen" who had worked for 20 years under the direction of the FBI.
According to an FBI affidavit, Leung worked as a paid "asset" of the US providing her handlers with information about China. But during much of that time Leung, who is married, had a clandestine relationship with Smith, who was supposed to be monitoring her activity.
The affidavit said Leung had admitted to FBI investigators that Smith would come to her house for debriefing sessions and leave his briefcase open, which allowed her to take and copy documents without Smith's knowledge.
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