US charges 2 Chinese intelligence officers with obstruction of justice

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US charged two Chinese intelligence officers on Monday with trying to obstruct the prosecution of a Chinese-based telecommunications firm as it rolled out three separate cases against Beijing.

The two alleged Chinese spies were identified as Guochun He and Zheng Wang. They have been charged with seeking to carry out a scheme that involved stealing information from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York to stymy the prosecution of the Chinese telecommunications company.

The Justice Department did not identify the firm, but said He and Wang tried to bribe a US government employee they believed had been recruited to secretly work for China. In all, they paid the individual $61,000 in Bitcoin, but that person had been working as a double agent for the FBI, according to the department.

The defendants attempted "to steal the prosecutor's playbook, including who the prosecutors were meeting with, and what they would argue in court all so that the company could unlawfully gain an edge and undermine the government's case," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a press conference alongside senior Justice Department officials.

He and Wang were charged with obstruction of justice while He was separately charged with two counts of money laundering related to the Bitcoin payments. Both men remain at large.

Separately, the Justice Department announced two other cases against Chinese-based individuals with charges against 13 people, 10 of whom FBI Director Christopher Wray identified as Chinese intelligence officers and government officials.

"They're charged in three different cases that might seem at first glance to be about unrelated issues," Wray said. "Each of these cases lays bare the Chinese government's flagrant violation of international laws as they work to project their authoritarian view around the world, including within our own borders."