DOJ Charges 12 People With Criminal Actions Taken in the US Under Chinese Government Orders

In a Monday press conference, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced three new federal cases against 13 individuals, 12 of whom are accused of being Chinese government agents.

Garland’s appearance was notable, as he was accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

“Over the past week, the Justice Department has taken several actions to disrupt criminal activity by individuals working on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” Garland said.

He said a complaint was unsealed in a Virginia federal court charging two “PRC intelligence officers” with “attempting to obstruct, influence and impede a criminal prosecution of a PRC-based telecommunications company.”

According to the indictment, in 2019, the defendants “directed an employee at a US government law enforcement agency to steal confidential information about the United States’ criminal prosecution of the company” from the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, including a prosecution strategy memo, confidential information regarding witnesses, trial evidence, and potential new charges.

“The defendants believed that they had recruited the US employee as an asset, but in fact the individual they recruited was a double agent working on behalf of the FBI,” Garland noted.

“The double agent provided the defendants with the documents that appeared to present some of the information they sought. In fact, the documents were prepared by the US government for the purpose of this investigation and did not reveal actual meetings, communications, or strategies.”

He added that another indictment was unsealed in a New Jersey federal court “charging four individuals, including three PRC intelligence officers, with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents on behalf of a foreign government.”

In that case, the government has accused the defendants of using “the cover of a purported Chinese academic institute to target, co-opt, and direct individuals in the United States to further the PRC’s intelligence mission.”

According to Garland, that included attempts to procure technology and equipment from the United States and to have it shipped to China. They also included attempts to stop protected First Amendment activities - protests - here in the United States which would have been embarrassing to the Chinese government.”

In a third case in New York, the DOJ has charged “seven individuals who were working on behalf of the PRC with engaging in a multi-year campaign of threats and harassment to force a US resident to return to China,” Garland said, adding that two of them had already been arrested.

“Those activities were part of the PRC’s global extralegal effort known as ‘Operation Foxhunt.’ Its purpose is to locate and bring back to China alleged fugitives who have fled to foreign countries, including the United States,” he said.

Since declaring China its chief rival in "great power competition" in 2018, the US government and media have accused Chinese-Americans, Chinese citizens in the US, and Chinese institutions of serving as agents of the Chinese government.

Beijing has denounced this behavior as "racist," pointing out that such demonization has led to a sharp spike in incidents of violence against Asian-Americans in the US.