CHICAGO — A former Chicago graduate pupil was sentenced to eight years in jail Wednesday for spying for the Chinese language authorities by gathering info on scientists and engineers within the U.S. with data about aerospace and satellite tv for pc expertise.
A federal jury in Chicago in September convicted Ji Chaoqun, 31, of conspiracy to behave as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Safety with out notifying the U.S. legal professional normal, performing as a spy within the U.S., and mendacity on a authorities type about his contacts with overseas businesses.
The fees alleged that Ji was focused by brokers with the Ministry of State Safety, or MSS, shortly earlier than he got here to the U.S. in 2013 to check engineering on the Illinois Institute of Expertise in Chicago.
After touring again to China for the winter break, prosecutors stated, Ji was “wined and dined” by his MSS handlers. He was ultimately given a high secret contract during which he swore an oath of allegiance to the company’s trigger, agreeing to “commit the remainder of my life to state safety,” based on prosecutors.
Ji in the end gathered background studies on eight U.S. residents, all born in Taiwan or China, with careers in science and expertise industries, together with a number of who specialised within the aerospace subject, prosecutors stated. Seven labored for U.S. protection contractors.
He despatched the studies again to his handlers in a zipped attachment that was falsely labeled as units of “midterm examination” questions, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Barry Jonas stated at Ji’s trial.
In 2016, a 12 months after Ji graduated from the school, he enlisted within the U.S. Army Reserve by a program to recruit foreigners who’ve abilities thought-about very important to the nationwide curiosity.
The jury discovered Ji responsible of giving false solutions on a authorities background type that requested if he had ever had any contact with overseas intelligence businesses.
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