A Manhattan resident admitted to conspiring as an agent for the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) government, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Chen Jinping, 60, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges of acting as an agent in connection with opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station in lower Manhattan for the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). When sentenced, Jinping faces up to 5 years in prison.
“A priority of my Office has been to counteract the malign activities of foreign governments that violate our nation’s sovereignty by targeting local diaspora communities in the United States,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “Today, a participant in a transnational repression scheme who worked to establish a secret police station in the middle of New York City on behalf of the national police force of the People’s Republic of China has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an illegal agent. 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.”
According to court documents, Jinping and co-defendant Lu Jianwang conspired to act as illegal agents of the PRC government while also obstructing justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official. Under the direction of the MPS official, Jinping and Jianwang worked together to establish the first known overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS, which occupied an entire floor of an office building in Chinatown.
The duo helped open and operate the station, and none of the participants in the scheme informed the U.S. government that they were helping the PRC government open and operate an undeclared MPS police station on U.S. soil.
In October 2022, the FBI executed an authorized search of the illegal police station and ultimately shut it down. During the search, agents interviewed the defendants and seized their phones, on which FBI agents later found that communications between the defendants and the MPS Official appeared to have been deleted.
Lu Jianwang pleaded not guilty to the charges and is awaiting trial.
“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 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.”
“Today, Chen Jinping admitted to his role in audaciously establishing an undeclared police station in the heart of New York City and attempting to conceal the effort when approached by FBI New York,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy. “This illegal police station was not opened in the interest of public safety, but to further the nefarious and repressive aims of the PRC in direct violation of American sovereignty. The FBI is unwavering in our duty to protect both the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and the security of our nation from oppressive hostile governments.”
If you believe that you have been a victim of transnational repression, visit www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/transnational-repression.
