Month: August 2024

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Yuanjun Tang, 67, a naturalized citizen of the United States and resident of Queens, New York, was charged by criminal complaint with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and making materially false statements to the FBI. Tang was arrested today in Flushing, Queens, and will be presented this afternoon.

According to court documents, Tang is a former PRC citizen who was imprisoned in the PRC for his activities as a dissident opposing the one-party authoritarian political system controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the PRC’s sole ruling party. In or about 2002, Tang defected to Taiwan; he was subsequently granted political asylum in the United States and has since resided in New York City, where he has regularly participated in events with fellow PRC dissidents and leads a nonprofit dedicated to promoting democracy in China.

Between at least in or about 2018 and in or about June 2023, Tang acted in the United States as an agent of the PRC by completing tasks at the direction of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is the PRC’s principal civilian intelligence agency. The MSS is responsible for, among other things, the PRC’s foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, espionage and political security functions.

Specifically, through a particular email account, encrypted chats, text messages and audio and video calls, Tang regularly received instructions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer regarding individuals and groups viewed by the PRC as potentially adverse to the PRC’s interests, including prominent U.S.-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents. He also traveled at least three times for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers and helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous PRC dissidents and pro-democracy activists to communicate about pro-democracy issues and express criticism of the PRC government. Law enforcement recovered instructions Tang received from the MSS and photographs, videos and documents that he collected or created for transmission to the MSS from numerous electronic devices and accounts belonging to Tang.

Tang also made materially false statements to the FBI. He falsely claimed that he was no longer able to access an email account through which he had communicated with his MSS handler through draft emails.

Tang is charged with one count of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison; one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York and Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Yumi Chong for the Southern District of New York and Trial Attorney Scott Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Oleg Chistyakov, also known as Olegs Čitsjakovs, 55, of Latvia, made his initial appearance in a federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, today after being extradited from Latvia. Chistyakov is the third defendant in this case to face charges in connection with a years-long conspiracy to sell sophisticated avionics equipment to Russian companies, after Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine and despite heightened additional U.S. economic countermeasures levied against Russia.

According to court documents, Chistyakov allegedly conspired with U.S. citizens Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 61, of Kansas, and Douglas Edward Robertson, 56, of  Kansas, to facilitate the sale, repair and shipment of U.S.-origin avionics equipment to customers in Russia and in other countries that operate Russian-built aircraft, including the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB). Buyanovksy and Robertson were charged and arrested in March 2023 and have both pleaded guilty. Buyanovsky is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 14 and Robertson is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3.

As alleged, Chistyakov, while operating from Latvia and often through his Emirati company RosAero FZC, worked with Buyanovsky and Robertson through their U.S. company, KanRus Trading Company Inc. (KanRus), to circumvent U.S export laws by purchasing avionics equipment from U.S. companies for customers in Russia. Chistyakov allegedly acted as a broker for KanRus by soliciting quotes, negotiating prices and terms of delivery and facilitating payments between KanRus and customers in Russia. As alleged, Chistyakov and his conspirators attempted to conceal their illegal activities by creating false invoices, transshipping items through third-party countries, such as Germany and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), using bank accounts in third-party countries, such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the UAE, and exporting items to intermediary companies which then reexported the items to the ultimate end destinations. 

Many of the entities and individuals involved in Chistyakov’s alleged scheme were added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List in December 2023, which imposes specific license requirements on transactions made by all listed individuals and entities.

Chistyakov is charged with conspiracy, Export Control Reform Act violations, smuggling and money laundering violations. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Commerce Department, Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI National Security Branch and U.S. Attorney Kate E. Brubacher for the District of Kansas made the announcement. 

The FBI and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Rask and Ryan Huschka for the District of Kansas and Trial Attorney Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Latvian authorities to secure the extradition of Chistyakov to the United States. 

The investigation was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2, 2022, and under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the department’s tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) today announced that it will conduct an organizational assessment of the Charlottesville, Virginia, Police Department through its Collaborative Reform Initiative. Over the next year, the Charlottesville Police Department will work with the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative team to focus on:

• Community Policing/Problem Solving;
• Crime Analysis/Crime Prevention;
• Employee Wellness, Training, Development and Retention;
• Resource Analysis/Strategic Planning; and
• Accountability, Oversight and Evaluation.

“The overall goals of the Organizational Assessment program include building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, enhancing officer safety and wellness and improving fairness and effectiveness in an agency’s operations,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “Any department that actively commits to pursuing those goals is taking a step in the right direction.”

“This is a comprehensive assessment that includes data and document review, direct observations of the agency’s activities and practices, interviews, focus groups and more,” said COPS Office Director Hugh T. Clements, Jr. “At the same time the work is taking place, the public will receive regular updates, as transparency is a critical part of this process.”

Regular updates on the team’s work with the Charlottesville Police Department will be provided at cops.usdoj.gov/active-oa-site-charlottesville-va-police-department as part of the transparency and public accountability of this new Organizational Assessment effort.

The Collaborative Reform Initiative encompasses three programs offering expert services to state, local, territorial and Tribal law enforcement agencies: the Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center, Critical Response and Organizational Assessment programs (complete details of these programs can be found at cops.usdoj.gov/collaborativereform). Managed out of the COPS Office, this continuum of services is designed to build trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve; improve operational efficiencies and effectiveness; enhance officer safety and wellness; build agencies’ capacity for organizational learning and self-improvement; and promote community policing practices nationwide.

The Organizational Assessment program provides the most intensive form of technical assistance on the continuum, involving in-depth assessments and long-term assistance on systemic issues that can challenge community trust and confidence. A continual assessment and implementation process ensures that time and resources are used to focus on identifying areas for improvement, reinforcing agency strengths and assisting with the implementation of improvements expeditiously. At the same time, the process provides transparency and accountability with routine public reporting. Each engagement will be supported by a multidisciplinary assessment team composed of subject matter experts with diverse experience and perspectives, including in law enforcement, community engagement, research and evaluation, program management and organizational reform.

The COPS Office is the federal component of the Justice Department responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The only Justice Department agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products and training and technical assistance. Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to organization for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served. The COPS Office has been appropriated more than $20 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local, territorial and Tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 138,000 officers.