A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after being accused of operating a "secret police station" on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn stated that Lu Jianwang, 64, should have notified the US attorney general that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. He also assisted China's government in locating a pro-democracy activist living in California.
Lu was arrested in April 2023 and had pleaded not guilty to three felony charges: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China, and obstruction of justice. A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial, and Lu now faces up to 30 years in prison.
"May today's verdict send a message to other foreign agents – the FBI maintains its unwavering resolve to reveal and disrupt the clandestine operations of adversarial nations," said FBI assistant director in charge James Barnacle in an announcement of the verdict.
Justice Department Intensifies Investigations
The justice department has recently increased inquiries into what it calls "transnational repression" by US adversaries such as China and Iran, aiming to intimidate political opponents living in the United States.
China's government has dismissed the charges as "fabricated" and part of an effort to smear the country's image. Beijing claims there are centers outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
Prosecutor's Opening Statement
In her opening statement on 6 May, prosecutor Lindsey Oken said Lu, a naturalized US citizen, had ties to Chinese law enforcement and met with officials who tasked him with opening the station during a trip to China in 2022. Oken stated that Lu ran the station out of a nondescript office building in Chinatown, initially helping Chinese nationals living in New York with renewing driver's licenses—an activity that alone constitutes a crime if not disclosed to the US government.
Oken also revealed that Lu agreed to help the Chinese government locate a pro-democracy activist living in the United States, though prosecutors did not allege that the activist was harmed.
Defense Arguments
John Carman, Lu's lawyer, argued that his client agreed to open the center to assist Chinese nationals who could not travel to China to renew documents due to the Covid pandemic. Carman maintained that Lu was not tasked with doing so by the Chinese government.
Co-defendant Pleads Guilty
A co-defendant arrested alongside Lu, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiring to act as an unregistered Chinese agent. The arrests followed a 2022 investigation by Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders, which reported that China had set up overseas "service stations," including in New York, that illegally worked with Chinese police to pressure fugitives to return to China.
Related Case in California
The verdict comes two days after the mayor of Arcadia, California, agreed to plead guilty to charges of acting as an illegal agent of China. Eileen Wang, who resigned her position as the plea deal was announced, had coordinated with China to post pro-China propaganda on a website billed as a news source for the area's Chinese American community.
Reuters contributed reporting.
