An Quanzhong, 55, and his daughter An Guangyang, 34, of Roslyn, New York, were arrested on the morning of Oct. 20 and were due to appear before the District Court for the Eastern District of New York for an arraignment hearing in the afternoon, according to DOJ. The remaining five defendants are at large in China; the United States doesn’t have an extradition treaty with China.
Six of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents for China.
The lead defendant, An Quanzhong, allegedly acted under the direct orders of various CCP officials in order to conduct surveillance on the Chinese national and engage in a campaign to harass and coerce the individual back to China as part of an extralegal effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”
“As alleged, the defendants engaged in a unilateral and uncoordinated law enforcement action on U.S. soil on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China, in an effort to cause the forced repatriation of a U.S. resident to China,” Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in the statement, using the official name of communist China.
“The United States will firmly counter such outrageous violations of national sovereignty and prosecute individuals who act as illegal agents of foreign states.”
Operation Fox Hunt is a widespread effort by the CCP to locate and repatriate alleged fugitives and dissidents who have left mainland China. The regime frequently uses extralegal means, including the harassment and detention of family members, to coerce such individuals to return to China, where they face punishment.
The CCP’s actions are done unilaterally, often illegally, and without any communication with or support from the U.S. government.
An FBI representative involved in the case said the targets of this most recent effort had fled persecution in communist China.
“The victims in this case sought to flee an authoritarian government, leaving behind their lives and family, for a better life here,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement.
“That same government sent agents to the United States to harass, threaten, and forcibly return them to the People’s Republic of China. The actions we allege are illegal, and the FBI will not allow adversaries to break laws designed to protect our nation and our freedom.”
The indictment states that the efforts went back to at least 2017 and that in the early 2020s, the CCP went so far as to transport a relative of the victims to the United States to personally convey the regime’s threats.
In 2018, two of the defendants traveled from China to New York City to spy on the victim, prosecutors said. Surveillance footage recorded them looking through windows, going through mail, and attempting to enter the victim’s home, the DOJ said.
An Quanzhong allegedly told the victims that the CCP would “keep pestering you [and] make your daily life uncomfortable,” and said that “it is definitely true that all of your relatives will be involved,” according to the indictment.
An Quanzhong also brought frivolous lawsuits against the victim in New York as part of a CCP effort to make the victim’s life miserable enough to return to China, according to the indictment. In one recorded conversation, An Quanzhong explicitly told the victim that the lawsuits were frivolous and that the CCP could spend a billion dollars to harass them into returning, the document stated.
The indictment also alleged that An Quanzhong and An Guangyang engaged in a money laundering scheme. The scheme used a hotel in Queens, New York, to launder millions of dollars of funds from China into the United States in an effort to fund the CCP’s illegal activities while concealing its true origin, prosecutors alleged. Both defendants were also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
When contacted by The Epoch Times, An Quanzhong’s lawyer Michael Horn said that they “were surprised by these allegations.”
“We'll spend the next few weeks attempting to understand why the US Attorney’s Office has jumped to such an unjustifiable conclusion. Mr. Ahn is a well established and legitimate New York businessman and Chinese American community advocate. [He has] never worked for the Chinese government. That’s it,” Horn said.
Horn added An Quanzhong has entered a plea of not guilty, and will shortly make a bail application before the judge.
The charge of acting as an agent of the CCP carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The money laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The remaining charges, including conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking, carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
