New York City Resident Pleads Guilty to Operating Secret Police Station of the Chinese Government in Lower Manhattan https://t.co/GotJzGxvHr (Announced with @NewYorkFBI and @TheJusticeDept)
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) December 18, 2024
Defendant Admitted That He Conspired to Act as an Illegal Agent of the Chinese Government
BROOKLYN, NY – Today in federal court in Brooklyn, Manhattan resident Chen Jinping pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in connection with opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station in lower Manhattan for the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). Today’s proceeding was held before United States District Judge Nina R. Morrison. When sentenced, the defendant faces up to five years in prison.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division; and James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty plea.
“A priority of my Office has been to counteract the malign activities of foreign governments that violate our nation’s sovereignty by targeting local diaspora communities in the United States,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “Today, a participant in a transnational repression scheme who worked to establish a secret police station in the middle of New York City on behalf of the national police force of the People’s Republic of China has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an illegal agent. We will continue our efforts to protect the rights of vulnerable persons who come to this country to escape the repressive activities of authoritarian regimes.”
“Today’s guilty plea holds the defendant accountable for his brazen efforts to operate an undeclared overseas police station on behalf of the PRC’s national police force — a clear affront to American sovereignty and danger to our community that will not be tolerated,” stated Assistant Attorney General Olsen. “The Department of Justice will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to aid the PRC’s efforts to extend their repressive reach into the United States.”
“Today, Chen Jinping admitted to his role in audaciously establishing an undeclared police station in the heart of New York City and attempting to conceal the effort when approached by FBI New York,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy. “This illegal police station was not opened in the interest of public safety, but to further the nefarious and repressive aims of the PRC in direct violation of American sovereignty. The FBI is unwavering in our duty to protect both the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and the security of our nation from oppressive hostile governments.”
As alleged in court filings and facts presented at the plea proceeding, Chen Jinping and co-defendant Lu Jianwang conspired to act as illegal agents of the PRC government and also obstructed justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official (the MPS Official). While acting under the direction and control of the MPS Official, the defendants worked together to establish the first known overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station—which closed in the fall of 2022—occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Chen and Lu helped open and operate the clandestine police station. None of the participants in the scheme informed the U.S. government that they were helping the PRC government open and operate an undeclared MPS police station on U.S. soil.
In October 2022, the FBI conducted a judicially authorized search of the illegal police station. In connection with the search, FBI agents interviewed both defendants and seized their phones. In reviewing the contents of these phones, FBI agents observed that communications between the defendants, on the one hand, and the MPS Official, on the other, appeared to have been deleted.
Lu Jianwang has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is awaiting trial.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon and Antoinette N. Rangel are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the United States. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/transnational-repression.
The Defendant:
CHEN JINPING
Age: 60
Manhattan, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-316 (NRM)
Replies