The Department of Justice said Monday that two Chinese intelligence officers were charged with attempting to obstruct a criminal investigation of telecommunications giant Huawei by offering bribes to a person they thought was an insider.
Huawei has been the subject of a probe looking into the alleged theft of trade secrets since 2020. The two Chinese nationals — Guochun He and Zheng Wang— allegedly conspired to obtain the prosecution strategy memo, witness lists, and other classified evidence, according to the indictment. The Justice Department said it a total of 13 people were charged with interfering in national security matters.
“The actions announced today take place against a backdrop of malign activity from the government of the People’s Republic of China that includes espionage, attempts to disrupt our justice system, harassment of individuals, and ongoing efforts to steal sensitive U.S. technology,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
“The men and women of the Department of Justice will continue to defend the United States, our institutions, and our people from foreign threats that violate the law — no matter what form they take.”
Per the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn on Monday, the Chinese agents paid nearly $61,000 in bitcoin to bribe a U.S. government official whom they believe was recruited by the Chinese government but in fact was a FBI double agent.
While the FBI double agent did provide some documents to the Chinese duo, the documents were a misdirection by the Justice Department and did not actually contain meeting details or trial strategies.
“The FBI, working with our partners and allies, will continue to throw the full weight of our counterintelligence and law enforcement authorities into stopping the Chinese government’s crimes against our businesses, universities, and Chinese-American communities,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
