Two suspected Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with attempting to obstruct a US criminal investigation of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by offering bribes to someone they thought could provide inside information, the US Department of Justice said on Monday.
The defendants are accused of paying tens of thousands of dollars in digital currency, along with cash and jewelry, to a US official they thought they had recruited as an asset, but the person was actually a double agent working for the FBI, the department said.
That prosecution, as well as two other cases involving Chinese operatives, was highlighted at a news conference that featured the heads of the FBI and the department.
Photo: AFP
Besides the two men on Monday, 11 other Chinese men have been charged with offenses in the past week, including for alleged harassment of individuals in the US, which FBI Director Christopher Wray said showed that China’s “economic assaults and their rights violations are part of the same problem.”
“They try to silence anyone who fights back against their theft — companies, politicians, individuals — just as they try to silence anyone who fights back against their other aggressions,” Wray said.
In the Huawei case, He Guochun (何國春) and Wang Zheng (王錚) are accused of trying to direct a US official to supply confidential information about the department’s investigation, including about witnesses, trial evidence and potential new charges.
“If the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, continues to violate our laws, they’re going to keep encountering the FBI,” Wray said.
“Today’s cases make clear that Chinese agents will not hesitate to break the law and to violate international norms in the process,” US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.
The case connected to the Huawei probe dates to January 2019. The company, a top executive and several subsidiaries had just been indicted on US charges of financial fraud, trade secret theft and sanctions violations.
Prosecutors said that Wang and He were eager to obtain non-public information about the prosecution and the status of the investigation.
They reached out to a contact they had known since 2017, but the person — who was not identified by name — began working as a double agent and engaged in a back-and-forth with the defendants that was overseen by the FBI.
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