Current:Home > NewsMan known as pro-democracy activist convicted in US of giving China intel on dissidents -Global Capital Summit
Man known as pro-democracy activist convicted in US of giving China intel on dissidents
View
Date:2025-04-14 02:57:45
NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese American scholar was convicted Tuesday of U.S. charges of using his reputation as a pro-democracy activist to gather information on dissidents and feed it to his homeland’s government.
A federal jury in New York delivered the verdict in the case of Shujun Wang, who helped found a pro-democracy group in the city.
Prosecutors said that at the behest of China’s main intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, Wang lived a double life for over a decade.
“The defendant pretended to be opposed to the Chinese government so that he could get close to people who were actually opposed to the Chinese government,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Sise said in an opening statement last month. “And then, the defendant betrayed those people, people who trusted him, by reporting information on them to China.”
Wang was convicted of charges including conspiring to act as a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general. He had pleaded not guilty.
A message seeking comment was sent to Wang’s attorneys.
Wang came to New York in 1994 to teach after doing so at a Chinese university. He later became a U.S. citizen.
He helped found the Queens-based Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang Memorial Foundation, named for two leaders of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1980s.
According to prosecutors, Wang composed emails — styled as “diaries” — that recounted conversations, meetings and plans of various critics of the Chinese government.
One message was about events commemorating the 1989 protests and bloody crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, prosecutors said. Other emails talked about people planning demonstrations during various visits that Chinese President Xi Jinping made to the U.S.
Instead of sending the emails and creating a digital trail, Wang saved them as drafts that Chinese intelligence officers could read by logging in with a shared password, prosecutors said.
In other, encrypted messages, Wang relayed details of upcoming pro-democracy events and plans to meet with a prominent Hong Kong dissident while the latter was in the U.S., according to an indictment.
During a series of FBI interviews between 2017 and 2021, Wang initially said he had no contacts with the Ministry of State Security, but he later acknowledged on videotape that the intelligence agency asked him to gather information on democracy advocates and that he sometimes did, FBI agents testified.
But, they said, he claimed he didn’t provide anything really valuable, just information already in the public domain.
Wang’s lawyers portrayed him as a gregarious academic with nothing to hide.
“In general, fair to say he was very open and talkative with you, right?” defense attorney Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma asked an undercover agent who approached Wang in 2021 under the guise of being affiliated with the Chinese security ministry.
“He was,” said the agent, who testified under a pseudonym. He recorded his conversation with Wang at the latter’s house in Connecticut.
“Did he seem a little lonely?” Margulis-Ohnuma asked a bit later. The agent said he didn’t recall.
Wang told agents his “diaries” were advertisements for the foundation’s meetings or write-ups that he was publishing in newspapers, according to testimony. He also suggested to the undercover agent that publishing them would be a way to deflect any suspicion from U.S. authorities.
Another agent, Garrett Igo, told jurors that when Wang found out in 2019 that investigators would search his phone for any contacts in the Chinese government, he paused for a minute.
“And then he said, ‘Do anything. I don’t care,’” Igo recalled.
veryGood! (78)
Related
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Here's What Vanderpump Rules' Tom Sandoval Really Thinks of Ex Ariana Madix's Broadway Success
- Chiefs vs. 49ers 2024: Vegas odds for spread, moneyline, over/under
- Judge rejects school system’s request to toss out long-running sex-assault lawsuit
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Hurricane hunters chase powerful atmospheric rivers as dangerous systems slam West Coast
- 2024 NHL All-Star Game weekend: Live stream, TV, draft, skills competition, rosters
- Democratic field set for special election that could determine control of Michigan House
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Mega Millions jackpot climbs to $333 million for January 30 drawing. See winning numbers
Ranking
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Fani Willis will not have to testify Wednesday in special prosecutor's divorce case
- Cole Sprouse admits he doesn't remember a lot from filming 'Suite Life of Zack & Cody'
- Takeaways from the AP’s look at the role of conspiracy theories in American politics and society
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Tennessee, Virginia AGs suing NCAA over NIL-related recruiting rules with Vols under investigation
- Music from Memphis’ Stax Records, Detroit’s Motown featured in online show
- Grading every college football coaching hire this offseason from best to worst
Recommendation
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
Preliminary test crashes indicate the nation’s guardrail system can’t handle heavy electric vehicles
Dunkin' faces $5M lawsuit: Customers say extra charge for non-dairy milk is discrimination
Environmentalists See Nevada Supreme Court Ruling Bringing State’s Water Management ‘Into the 21st Century’
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
Taylor Swift AI pictures highlight the horrors of deepfake porn. Will we finally care?
Massachusetts state troopers among 6 charged in commercial driver's license bribery scheme
Oregon decriminalized drugs in 2020. Now officials are declaring a fentanyl state of emergency