Queens Resident Convicted of Acting as a Covert Chinese Agent

Press Release

Defendant Pretended to Be Opposed to the Chinese Government so He Could Get Close to Prominent Activists Seeking to Bring Democracy, Reform and Human Rights to China

Shujun Wang, an academic and author who helped start a pro-democracy organization in Queens that opposes the current communist regime in China, was convicted today by a federal jury in Brooklyn on all four counts of an indictment charging him with acting and conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the U.S. Attorney General, criminal possession identification and making false statements to law enforcement. The verdict followed a seven-day trial before United States Second Circuit Judge Denny Chin sitting by designation. Wang's co-defendants in the espionage and transnational repression scheme, Feng He, Jie Ji, Ming Li and Keqing Lu are officials from China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). They remain at large. When sentenced, Wang faces up to 25 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 Robert Wells, Executive Assistant Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Branch (FBI), announced the verdict.

"The indictment could have been the plot of a spy novel, but the evidence is shockingly real that the defendant was a secret agent for the Chinese government," stated United States Attorney Peace. "Posing as a well-known academic and founder of a pro-democracy organization, Wang was willing to betray those who respected and trusted him. When confronted with his shameful conduct, the defendant lied to law enforcement, but today's verdict revealed the truth of his crimes and now he will face the consequences."

"This defendant infiltrated a New York-based advocacy group by masquerading as a pro-democracy activist all while covertly collecting and reporting sensitive information about its members to the PRC's intelligence service," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division. "Today's verdict demonstrates that those who would seek to advance the Chinese government's agenda of transnational repression will be held accountable."

"This conviction underscores the FBI's commitment to countering espionage schemes by holding those accountable who collect US activist information for the benefit of China," said Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI's National Security Branch. "Any support for transnational repression is unacceptable, and the FBI works diligently with its partners to seek out and bring to justice those who support such activities."

Wang is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chinese descent and one of the founders of the pro-democracy Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang Memorial Foundation, an organization located in Flushing, Queens whose members are well-known pro-democracy dissidents who oppose the current government of the PRC. But instead of promoting democracy in the PRC, Wang, at the direction of PRC government officials, used his position within the Memorial Foundation and his status within the Chinese diaspora community to collect information about prominent activists, academics, and dissidents, and reported that information to the PRC government.

As proven at trial, since at least 2006, Wang operated under the direction and control of his co-defendants, four officials of China's MSS, which is responsible for the PRC's foreign intelligence collection. At the MSS's direction, Wang gathered information on people and groups that the PRC considers subversive, such as Hong Kong democracy protestors, advocates for Taiwanese independence and Uyghur and Tibetan activists, both in the United States and abroad. Wang conducted face-to-face meetings with MSS officials while on trips to the PRC, and used WeChat to receive orders from his co-defendants and to send and receive written messages and files.

Wang often memorialized the information he collected in email "diaries" to be accessed by the MSS. These "diaries" included details about Wang's private conversations with prominent dissidents, as well as the activities of pro-democracy activists and human rights organizations. Law enforcement recovered from Wang's residence diary entries that he wrote to He, Ji, Li, Lu and other MSS officials. Additionally, in connection with his work for the MSS, Wang possessed telephone numbers and contact information belonging to Chinese dissidents.

Wang made materially false statements to federal law enforcement, falsely denying that he had contacts with PRC officials or the MSS. Over the course of three separate interviews, between 2017 and 2021, Wang repeatedly denied or downplayed his contact with individuals from the Chinese intelligence agency. During one of the interviews, in 2019, Wang was interviewed by federal law enforcement agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, after he returned from China. Wang falsely stated that he had no contact with anyone from the Chinese government and that he had no Chinese government contact information.

The government's case is being handled by the Office's National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Ellen H. Sise and Nina C. Gupta of the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Garrett Coyle of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Magdalena St. Surin and Rebecca Roth.

The Defendant:

WANG, SHUJUN
Age: 75
Queens, New York

Co-Defendants At Large:

FENG HE (also known as "Boss He")
Age: 51
Guangdong, PRC

JIE JI
Age: 52
Qingdao, PRC

MING LI (also known as "Elder Tang" and "Little Li")
Age: 42
Guangdong, PRC

KEQING LU (also known as "Boss Lu")
Age: 63
Qingdao, PRC

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-230 (DC)

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Updated August 6, 2024