5 charged in effort to intimidate Chinese dissidents, including a New York congressional candidate
Federal authorities unsealed charges against five people Wednesday, accusing them of acting on behalf of the Chinese government to intimidate U.S. dissidents in three separate cases, including an effort to derail the congressional campaign of a Brooklyn man who was part of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Qiming Lin, 59, worked for China's secret police force known as the Ministry of State Security while discussing various plots to physically harm or smear the New York candidate by using prostitutes to compromise the victim who is also a U.S. military veteran.
The court documents do not identify the candidate, but the government's description appears to match Yan Xiong, who announced his candidacy last fall for a congressional seat in Long Island, New York.
Yan's campaign said the candidate was returning from a trip to Ukraine where he was working as a pastor and unavailable to comment.
Beginning last September and continuing through Tuesday, prosecutors said Lin worked with a New York private investigator, first proposing schemes to discredit the candidate before turning the discussions to possible physical attacks and a staged car accident.
"But in the end, violence would be fine too. Huh?" Lin allegedly said in a voice message to the investigator. "Beat him... beat him until he cannot run for election. Heh, that’s the-the last resort. You think about it. Car accident, [he] will be completely wrecked... right?"
Lin remains at large and is believed to be in China, but the case was one of three federal authorities unsealed Wednesday in what they described as part of an "alarming rise" in efforts by authoritarian governments, including Russia and Iran, to silence dissenters in the U.S.
“Transnational repression harms people in the United States and around the world and threatens the rule of law itself,” Justice Department National Security Division chief Matthew Olsen said. “This activity is antithetical to fundamental American values, and we will not tolerate it when it violates U.S. law."
In a separate case, Shujun Wang, a 73-year-old Chinese scholar who helped begin a pro-democracy organization in Queens, is charged with secretly operating against activists at the direction of the Chinese government.
Prosecutors said that since September 2015, Wang "used his position and status within Chinese diaspora community in New York City to collect information about prominent activists, dissidents, and human rights leaders to report that information to the (People's Republic of China) government."
"While ostensibly lending a sympathetic ear," prosecutors said, "Wang reported on statements activists made in confidence to him, including on their views on democracy in the PRC, as well as planned speeches, writings, and demonstrations against the Chinese Communist Party."
As part of his work, prosecutors said Wang allegedly sent email “diaries” to the PRC's secret police containing details of his conversations with "prominent dissidents, the activities of pro-democracy activists, as well as relevant phone numbers and other contact information for the targets of the PRC government."
Wang was arrested Wednesday morning in New York and faces a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison if convicted.
In the third case, Fan “Frank” Liu, 62, of Long Island, New York, and Matthew Ziburis, 49, of Oyster Bay New York, were charged with working at the direction of Quiang “Jason” Sun, 40, of China, in an attempt to bribe an IRS official to obtain the tax returns of a pro-democracy activist living in the U.S.
Liu, according to court documents, is president of two New York-based media companies, and Ziburis is a former Florida corrections officer and bodyguard. Sun is listed as a employee of an international technology company based in China.
"Liu and Ziburis have been operating under Sun’s direction and control to discredit pro-democracy PRC dissidents residing in the United States – including in New York," federal officials said.
Liu and Ziburis were arrested Tuesday in New York and face a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison on several charges including bribery and conspiracy. Sun remains at large and is believed to be in China.