The Defendants Participated in Transnational Repression Schemes to Silence Critics of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Residing in the United States and Abroad
Two complaints were unsealed and one amended complaint was authorized in federal court in Brooklyn charging five defendants with various crimes related to efforts by the secret police of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to stalk, harass, and spy on Chinese nationals residing in Queens, New York and elsewhere in the United States. All of the defendants allegedly perpetrated transnational repression schemes to target U.S. residents whose political views and actions are disfavored by the PRC government, such as advocating for democracy in the PRC. In one of these schemes, the coconspirators sought to interfere with federal elections by allegedly orchestrating a campaign to undermine the U.S. congressional candidacy of a U.S. military veteran who was a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing, PRC. In another of these schemes, three defendants planned to destroy the artwork of a PRC national residing in Los Angeles, California that was critical of the PRC government, and planted surveillance equipment in the artist’s workplace and car to spy on him from the PRC.
Fan “Frank” Liu and Matthew Ziburis were arrested yesterday, while Shujun Wang was arrested this morning. All three arrests occurred in the Eastern District of New York. The defendants’ initial appearances are scheduled this afternoon in Brooklyn before United States Magistrate Judge James R. Cho. The other two defendants remain at large.
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, Alan E. Kohler, Jr., Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counterintelligence Division (FBI), and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office, announced the arrests and charges.
“The complaints unsealed today reveal the outrageous and dangerous lengths to which the PRC government’s secret police and these defendants have gone to attack the rule of law and freedom in New York City and elsewhere in the United States,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “As alleged, all three cases involve campaigns to silence, harass, discredit and spy on U.S. residents for simply exercising their freedom of speech. The United States will not tolerate blatantly illegal actions that target U.S. residents, on U.S. soil, and undermine our treasured American values and rights.”
“Transnational repression harms people in the United States and around the world and threatens the rule of law itself,” said Assistant Attorney General Olsen. “This activity is antithetical to fundamental American values, and we will not tolerate it when it violates U.S. law. The Department of Justice will defend the rights of Americans and those who come to live, work, and study in the United States. We will not allow any foreign government to impede their freedom of speech, to deny them the protection of our laws, or to threaten their safety or the safety of their families.”
“The Ministry of State Security is more than an intelligence collection agency. It executes the Chinese government’s efforts to limit free speech, attack dissidents, and preserve the power of the Communist Party,” stated FBI Assistant Director Kohler. “When it exports those actions overseas, it violates the fundamental sovereignty of the US and becomes a national security threat. These indictments should serve as a stark warning to the MSS and all foreign intelligence agencies that their efforts at repression will not be tolerated within our borders.”
“As alleged, all of the defendants charged today at the direction of the PRC secret police, engaged in a series of actions designed to silence the free speech of Chinese dissidents in the United States. Transnational repression schemes pose an increasing threat against U.S. residents who choose to speak out against the People’s Republic of China and other regimes. The FBI is committed to protecting the free speech of all U.S. residents, and we simply will not tolerate the attempts of foreign governments to violate our laws and restrict our freedom,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.
United States v. Qiming Lin
Lin is charged with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment, as well as conspiracy and attempt to use of a means of identification in connection with the interstate harassment conspiracy.
As alleged, Lin, a citizen and resident of the PRC, works on behalf of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). The MSS is a civilian intelligence and secret police agency responsible for counterintelligence and political security.
Beginning in September 2021, Lin hired a private investigator (the PI) in New York to disrupt the campaign of a Brooklyn resident currently running for U.S. Congress (the Victim), including by physically attacking the Victim. The Victim was a student leader of the prodemocracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989, who later escaped to the United States, served in the U.S. military, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In September 2021, the Victim (then living in Long Island) announced his intention to run for a U.S. congressional seat on Long Island in the November 2022 general election.
In hiring the PI, Lin explained that if the Victim was selected during the June 2022 primary election, then he might be “elected to be a legislator. Right now we don’t want him to be elected.” Lin emphasized that “Whatever price is fine. As long as you can do it.” He also promised that “we will have a lot more-more of this [work] in the future . . . Including right now [a] New York State legislator.” Lin explained to the PI that Lin was working with other unidentified individuals in the PRC to stop the Victim from being elected to U.S. Congress.
As alleged, Lin first asked the PI to provide information about the Victim, including the Victim’s address and phone number, which the PI later provided. Lin also requested that the PI unearth derogatory information about the Victim or, if no such information could be found, “manufacture something, like what happened to [a famous concert pianist (the Pianist)]?” That request referred to an incident in Beijing in which the Pianist was reportedly detained after allegedly being found in the company of a prostitute. Lin later reiterated that, if the PI could not uncover a scandal, then “can they create some?” Lin also encouraged the PI to “go find a girl . . . Or see how he goes for prostitution, take some photos, something of that nature.”
In December 2021, Lin proposed that the PI also consider physically attacking the Victim to prevent his candidacy. In a voice message to the PI, Lin stated:
You can start thinking now, aside from violence, what other plans are there? Huh? But in the end, violence would be fine too. Huh? Beat him [chuckles], beat him until he cannot run for election. Heh, that’s the-the last resort. You-you think about it. Car accident, [he] will be completely wrecked [chuckles], right? Don’t know, eh, whatever ways from all different angles. Or, on the day of the election, he cannot make it there himself, right?
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon and David K. Kessler 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.
United States v. Shujun Wang
Wang is charged with acting as an agent of the PRC government, criminal use of means of identification, and making materially false statements, in connection with his participation in a transnational repression scheme orchestrated by the MSS.
As alleged, Wang, who lives in Flushing, Queens, is a former visiting scholar and author who helped start a pro-democracy organization in Queens that memorializes two former leaders of the Chinese Communist Party who promoted political and economic reforms within the PRC and were eventually forced from power. Since at least 2015, however, Wang has secretly operated at the direction and control of several MSS officers.
At the direction of the MSS, Wang used his position and status within Chinese diaspora community in New York City to collect information about prominent activists, dissidents, and human rights leaders to report that information to the PRC government. While ostensibly lending a sympathetic ear, Wang reported on statements activists made in confidence to him, including on their views on democracy in the PRC, as well as planned speeches, writings, and demonstrations against the Chinese Communist Party. The victims of Wang’s efforts included individuals and groups located in New York City and elsewhere that the PRC considers subversive, such as Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, advocates for Taiwanese independence, and Uyghur and Tibetan activists, both in the United States and abroad. Wang sent email “diaries” to the MSS that contained details of his conversations with prominent dissidents, the activities of pro-democracy activists, as well as relevant phone numbers and other contact information for the targets of the PRC government.
For example, in a series of communications on November 22, 2016, Wang’s MSS handler instructed him to meet with a particular attendee at a pro-democracy event in Queens and to “accomplish the task” assigned by the “Boss.” The MSS handler emphasized that the attendee had contacts with “Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians.” Similarly, on November 16, 2016, Wang informed another MSS handler that he “just finished chatting” with a prominent human rights activist and had asked the “necessary questions” and received “candid” answers. The MSS officer responded “great” and with a thumbs-up emoji, instructing Wang to record that information in a “diary.”
In April 2020, one victim about whom Wang reported—the Hong Kong democracy activist identified in the complaint as “Hong Kong Dissident #1”—was arrested in Hong Kong and jailed on political charges. In addition, in April 2019, Wang flew from the PRC to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens carrying a handwritten document with the names and non-public contact information for dozens of other well-known PRC dissidents, including other Hong Kong democracy activists who were subsequently arrested by the PRC in 2019 and 2020.
The complaint also alleges that, during an interview in Queens on August 2, 2017, Wang lied to federal law enforcement, falsely denying that he had contacts with PRC officials or the MSS when in fact he had been secretly reporting on U.S. residents to the MSS. Wang later admitted much of his criminal conduct to an undercover member of law enforcement and during a subsequent interview with agents.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Artie McConnell is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Edward Chang of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
United States v. Fan “Frank” Liu, Matthew Ziburis, and Qiang “Jason” Sun
Liu and Ziburis are charged with conspiring to act as agents of the PRC government. Liu, Ziburis, and Sun are charged with conspiring to commit interstate harassment and criminal use of a means of identification. Liu and Sun are charged with conspiring to bribe a federal official in connection with their scheme to obtain the tax returns of a pro-democracy activist residing in the United States.
According to the complaint, Liu, a resident of Jericho, Long Island, is president of a purported media company based in New York City, while Ziburis, a resident of Oyster Bay, Long Island, is a former correctional officer for the State of Florida and a bodyguard. Sun is a PRC-based employee of an international technology company.
According to the complaint, Liu and Ziburis have been operating under Sun’s direction and control to discredit pro-democracy PRC dissidents residing in the United States—including in New York City, California, and Indiana—by spying on them and disseminating negative information about them. For example, at Sun’s direction, Liu paid a private investigator in Queens to bribe an Internal Revenue Service employee to obtain the federal tax returns of one of the dissidents. The private investigator was cooperating with law enforcement, and no Internal Revenue Service employee received a bribe payment. The defendants planned to publicly disclose the dissident’s potential tax liabilities to discredit him. The coconspirators also made plans to destroy the artwork of a dissident artist whose work is critical of the PRC government, and the artist’s sculpture depicting PRC President Xi Jinping as a coronavirus molecule was demolished in the Spring of 2021. Sun has paid both Liu and Ziburis for these efforts to stalk, harass, and surveil dissidents residing in the United States.
As part of their efforts, the defendants electronically spied on the pro-democracy activists. For example, posing as an art dealer interested in purchasing the artwork of the dissident artist, Ziburis secretly installed surveillance cameras and GPS devices at the dissident’s workplace and in his car. While in the PRC, Sun watched the live video feed and location data from these devices. The defendants made similar plans to install surveillance equipment at the residences and on the vehicles of two other dissidents. Liu and Ziburis planned to gain access to one such residence by posing as a member of an international sports committee.
The defendants also planned to interview the dissidents in mock media sessions, using the cover of Liu’s purported media organization. Sun provided outlines for these fake interviews and designed questions to elicit answers that were intended to humiliate or discredit the dissidents. The defendants intended that audio or video clips of these statements could be used in PRC propaganda materials targeting the dissidents.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon and Emily J. Dean are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Brian D. Morris of the Office’s Asset Forfeiture Section, Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Christopher D. Grigg of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The charges in the complaints are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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.
