The U.S. has charged two Chinese intelligence officers in a scheme to bribe a U.S. government employee to steal “secret” documents relating to the prosecution of a company in China. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the defendants paid $61,000 bitcoin to the double agent who stole the information.
In a scheme to steal secret documents, Chinese spies are charged
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint Monday charging two Chinese intelligence officers in a scheme to bribe a U.S. government employee and steal “secret” documents. They are still at large.
Guochun He (aka Dong He and Jacky He) and Zheng Wang (aka Zen Wang) allegedly orchestrated a scheme to steal internal files and other non-public information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The information relates to the ongoing investigation and prosecution of a global telecommunications company (Company-1) based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Court documents reveal that the company is Huawei, a Chinese tech giant.
“Guochun He and Zheng Wang are charged with attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution of Company-1 in federal district court in the Eastern District of New York,” the DOJ described, adding:
Defendant is also facing two charges of money laundering on the basis of bribe payments in excess of $61,000 in bitcoin.
The scheme to steal secret U.S. Documents
DOJ stated that the Chinese intelligence officers instructed an employee of a U.S. government enforcement agency (GE-1), to steal sensitive information concerning the criminal prosecution against Company-1.
Wang and he believed that the U.S. employee was being recruited for work with the PRC. But, in reality the worker was a double agent who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The defendants gave GE-1 the responsibility of reporting information about meetings GE-1 was alleged to have with prosecutors. GE-1 used encrypted messaging software to send defendants a portion of a purported internal policy memorandum about the Company-1 case. According to the DOJ:
The document appeared to be classified as ‘SECRET’ and to discuss a plan to charge and arrest two current Company-1 employees living in the PRC.
For stealing the document, GE-1 received approximately $41,000 in Bitcoin.
Defendant He told GE-1 that GE-1 will be interested to steal another portion of the strategy memorandum. This month, he made an additional $20,000 payment to GE-1 in bitcoin for this information. This was what the DOJ said:
Guochun He could be sentenced to up to 60 years imprisonment, while Wang can face up to 20.
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