New York man pleads guilty to running Chinese ‘police station’ in Manhattan

Dec. 19 (UPI) — A New York City man faces a prison sentence of up to five years after pleading guilty in connection with establishing and running an illegal “Chinese police station” in Manhattan used to intimidate and harass Chinese nationals critical of the Chinese government.

Chen Jinping, 60, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China related to an undeclared overseas police station in New York’s China Town, the first known such operation in the United States, on behalf of China’s national police, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release Wednesday.

Chen and co-defendant “Harry” Lu Jianwang, who also conspired to act as an illegal agent of the PRC government, obstructed justice by destroying evidence of their communications with a Ministry of Public Security official under whose supervision they established the clandestine police outpost, which occupied a whole floor of an office building, on behalf of the MPS, Fuzhou branch.

Armed with search warrants FBI raided and shut down the operation in October 2022 with both defendants admitting to the FBI that they had deleted their communications with the MPS official, preventing the FBI from uncovering the full extent of the MPS’s directions.

“Today’s guilty plea holds the defendant accountable for his brazen efforts to operate an undeclared overseas police station on behalf of the PRC’s national police force — a clear affront to American sovereignty and danger to our community that will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to aid the PRC’s efforts to extend their repressive reach into the United States.”

Robert Wells, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, which is investigating the case, said it was “a stark reminder of the insidious efforts taken by the PRC government to threaten, harass, and intimidate those who speak against their Communist Party.”

Vowing that such behavior would not be tolerated on U.S. soil, Wells said the FBI was committed to preserving the rights and freedoms of all people in the United States against transnational repression however in whatever form it presented itself.

Welcoming the conviction, which was part of a plea deal, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said tackling “malign activities of foreign governments that violate our nation’s sovereignty” by targeting local diaspora communities was a top priority for his office.

“We will continue our efforts to protect the rights of vulnerable persons who come to this country to escape the repressive activities of authoritarian regimes,” said Peace.

As part of Chen’s plea agreement, the government will drop the obstruction of justice charge against him. Lu has pleaded not guilty to both of the charges against him — conspiracy and obstruction — and is awaiting trial.

Chen and Lu were among 46 people named in three Justice Department criminal complaints unsealed in April 2023 alleging suppression efforts and harassment of Chinese dissidents and activists living in the United States.

The secret illegal police station, fake social media accounts, and a conspiracy involving a U.S. telecommunications company employee were at the center of the scheme the Department of Justice and FBI were going after.

A two-count complaint charged 34 MPS officers with conspiracy to transmit interstate threats and conspiracy to commit interstate harassment, alleging they set up thousands of fake social media accounts on sites such as X, formerly Twitter, to share Chinese propaganda, harass those critical of the Chinese government and recruit U.S. citizens to their cause.

The third complaint accuses a China-based company and one of its employees, along with six MPS officers and two Chinese officials of the Cyberspace Administration of China of conspiracy to commit interstate harassment.

The accused, who were believed to be living in China or elsewhere in Asia, were also charged with attempting to illegally transfer a means of identification.

The “police station,” which operated out of 107 East Broadway in lower Manhattan, is believed to be one of more than 100 operating in 53 countries around the world including Canada, Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands.