The push was a part of an organized program by China — generally known as “Operation Fox Hunt” — to trace down dissidents and folks accused of crimes in China who’re dwelling overseas and get them to come back again to face potential self-discipline.
As a part of the trouble, China despatched Jin’s 83-year-old father from China to New Jersey in 2017. The older man, as instructed by his handlers, tried to persuade his son to return to China.
At trial, prosecutors described years of harassment that was endured by the couple and their family.
“This was a relentless marketing campaign by the Chinese language Authorities to scare Xu Jin and Liu Fang into returning to China,” Assistant U.S. Lawyer Meredith Arfa argued in summations final week on the trial in U.S. District Court docket in Brooklyn.
Retired New York Police Division sergeant Michael McMahon, who was working as a non-public investigator, was convicted of performing as a international agent with out notifying the U.S. authorities, as required by regulation. He was additionally discovered responsible of interstate stalking and conspiracy to have interaction in interstate stalking.
The previous police officer was acquitted of conspiracy to behave as a international agent. At trial, prosecutors described how McMahon obtained private info on the couple — together with banking information — to assist representatives of the Chinese language authorities discover the couple’s deal with and different personal info.
An lawyer for McMahon argued to the jury that he didn’t know he’d been employed on behalf of China. However prosecutors stated it was clear that McMahon had found out who he was working for.
“McMahon knew precisely what was happening proper from the start,” Arfa stated in closing arguments. “He did some fundamental analysis and he virtually instantly discovered a newspaper article and different info that made clear precisely why he had been employed to seek out Xu Jin.”
Zheng Congying, who was accused of staking out the couple’s dwelling and leaving a observe that argued the husband ought to give up to Chinese language authorities, was convicted of stalking and stalking conspiracy. He was acquitted of prices referring to performing as a international agent.
The third man on trial, Zhu Yong, was convicted on all 4 counts: performing as a international agent, interstate stalking and conspiracy counts associated to each crimes. He was accused of hiring McMahon for the Chinese language authorities and brokering a important a part of the technique to seek out the couple and press them to return.
The 2 males had been dwelling in New York Metropolis on the time of their arrest in October 2020.
This case was the primary “Operation Fox Hunt” trial to be held within the U.S. after the Justice Division started its crackdown on China’s extrajudicial repatriation program.
McMahon faces as much as 20 years in jail, Zhu faces as much as 25 and Zheng faces as much as a decade.
In a press release after the decision, Brooklyn U.S. Lawyer Breon Peace stated the three males “knowingly acted on the course of a hostile international state to harass, intimidate and try and trigger the involuntary return of a resident of the New York metropolitan space” to China.
“It’s notably troubling that [McMahon], a former sergeant within the New York Metropolis Police Division, engaged in surveillance, harassment, and stalking on behalf of a international energy for cash,” Peace added.