US Unveils Charges Against Chinese Communist Party Operatives Who Targeted Americans

FBI Director Christopher Wray (R) and Attorney General Merrick Garland speak at a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on Oct. 24, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Three groups of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operatives sought to interfere with Americans and American residents, including trying to pay money for secret information about charges against a China-based company, U.S. officials said on Oct. 24.

In one case, a group of seven people engaged in a “multi-year campaign of threats and harassment” against a naturalized U.S. citizen to try to make them return to China, Garland said.

The campaign in eastern New York involved threatening and harassing the person and his family members, both inside the United States and in China, according to charging documents filed earlier this month and unsealed on Monday.

“Coming back and turning yourself in is the only way out,” the defendants allegedly told the citizen at one point.

The efforts were part of a CCP program called “Operation Fox Hunt,” which focuses on locating and repatriating alleged fugitives who have fled to other countries.

Two of the seven defendants have been arrested.

In another case, two CCP intelligence operatives approached a U.S. government employee to try to obtain confidential information about charges against a China-based telecommunications company,

The operatives paid bribes to the employee and were given documents they thought outlined the prosecution’s strategy, possible witnesses, and other details.

But the employee was actually a double agent for the FBI and the documents contained fake information, according to charging documents filed on Oct. 20 and unsealed on Monday.

Both operatives remain at large.

The third case involves four people, including three Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligence officers, conspiring to act as illegal foreign agents in the United States.

The group allegedly worked in New Jersey to steal technology and convey the tech back to the CCP, in part by inviting a former federal law enforcement officer on paid trips to China and asking the American for sensitive technology.

The group also worked at disrupting protests, which are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, according to charging documents filed Oct. 20 and unsealed on Monday.

They allegedly used the Institute for International Studies, which purported to be an academic institute, as a cover for the operation.

“The government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedom of individuals in the United States,” Garland said. “They did not succeed.”

The indictments “again expose the PRC’s outrageous behavior within our own borders,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement, referring to the People’s Republic of China, another name for the CCP.

“The FBI, working with our partners and allies, will continue to throw the full weight of our counterintelligence and law enforcement authorities into stopping the Chinese government’s crimes against our businesses, universities, and Chinese-American communities,” he added.