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The Justice Department announced charges Monday against a total of 13 Chinese nationals for offenses including trying to steal U.S. law enforcement secrets.
Among those charged were two alleged spies who sought to obstruct the U.S. prosecution of Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies.
“As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judiciary system that protects those rights. They did not succeed,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Prosecutors said the two alleged Chinese spies attempted to undermine the Huawei investigation by trying to bribe a U.S. law enforcement agent into stealing confidential information about the case.
Although the Justice Department didn’t specifically identify Huawei as the telecom company, details in the 29-page criminal complaint closely match the case filed against Huawei. In 2019, U.S. prosecutors indicted Huawei, alleging it violated U.S. sanctions on Iran and conspiring to obstruct the investigation.
Gouchon He and Zheng Wang, the two accused spies, are alleged to have recruited the law enforcement official in 2017, believing they had secured a Chinese asset. However, the official was working as a “double agent,” under FBI supervision to help U.S. prosecutors build a case against the two defendants.
They pressed the official to get information about witnesses and trial evidence, including stealing files from the U.
