Source: United States Department of Justice News
Thank you, Mr. Attorney General.
The Department of Justice will not tolerate threats from a foreign power to the rights of Americans or to our nation’s institutions.
As the Attorney General laid out, the cases unsealed today take place against a backdrop of malign activity from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that includes espionage, harassment, obstruction of our justice system, and unceasing efforts to steal sensitive U.S. technology.
In the words of our Intelligence Community, China seeks to be a major power on the world stage and to challenge the United States in multiple arenas, and today’s cases make clear that Chinese agents will not hesitate to break the law and violate international norms in the process.
Two of those cases in particular show the lengths they are willing to go in pursuit of unfair advantage. But the defendants charged today met their match in the agents, analysts, and prosecutors of the Department of Justice.
According to one indictment unsealed today, two intelligence officers attempted, through bribery and espionage, to obstruct the federal criminal prosecution of a global telecommunications company headquartered in the PRC.
The defendants attempted to bribe someone they believed was an insider to steal the prosecutors’ 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.
But that insider flipped the script on the defendants by working not for them, but for Team America.
The defendant’s desperate efforts to sabotage this prosecution expose the PRC government’s commitment to tilting the playing field in favor of Chinese corporations abroad.
Far from accepting the rule of law, PRC government agents sought to use bribes to help the Chinese company obstruct and evade it.
This case exposes the interconnection between PRC intelligence officers and Chinese companies, and it demonstrates, once again, why such companies — especially in the telecommunications industry — should not be trusted to securely handle our sensitive personal data and communications.
In another matter announced today, individuals associated with the Chinese government allegedly continued its relentless campaign to gain access to our technology, recruit agents, and attempt to stifle the free exchange of ideas.
According to the indictment, over a 10-year period, the defendants and others used a fake thinktank to attempt to recruit a former federal law enforcement and state homeland security official and others, through a variety of means, including all-expense paid trips to China.
In each case, however, the plots failed because the men and women of the Department of Justice defended our institutions and thwarted the persistent threat posed by agents of the PRC.
I want to thank the agents, analysts, and prosecutors in all three of these cases for their tireless work on behalf of the American people.
Let me now turn to the FBI Director to offer some more details about the operations leading to these charges.