FBI Employee Pleads Guilty To Being Illegal Chinese Agent

FBI Employee Pleads Guilty To Being Illegal Chinese Agent | FBI Tech Pleads Guilty In Giving Records To Chinese

FBI Employee Pleads Guilty To Being Illegal Chinese Agent :  The authorities on Monday secured a guilty plea from 46-year-old , Kun Shan Chun, a 19 year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was accused of concealing his relationship with Chinese Technology Companies and Other associates who worked closely with Chinese Government. He has been charged of passing restricted and sensitive information on multiple occasions to a Chinese government official and faces up to a Maximum of 10 Years in prison if charges were proved, but the government and the defense agreed, under federal sentencing guidelines, that a sentence of 21 to 27 months would be appropriate, according to Mr. Chun’s plea agreement.

A criminal complaint shows that Mr. Chun, had been charged with four counts, including making false statements in a written questionnaire submitted to the F.B.I. in connection with an investigation related to his security clearance. Chun had not disclosed to his bosses about his closeness to Chinese state officials. Chun was granted a “top secret” security clearance in 1998 a year after his joining the FBI.

Mr. Chun, also known as Joey and worked in the bureau’s New York office, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of Federal District Court in Manhattan to one count of acting in the United States as an agent of China. He later told Judge Francis: ”At the time I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I am sorry for my actions,”.

Jonathan Marvinny, Mr. Chun’s Attorney said: “Today Joey Chun accepted responsibility for some mistakes in judgment that he deeply regrets. The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm. He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life.”

In response to Marvinny, John Carlin Assistant Attorney General said: “That’s certainly wishful thinking, Kun Shan Chun violated our nation’s trust by exploiting his official U.S. Government position to provide restricted and sensitive FBI information to the Chinese Government. Holding accountable those who work as illegal foreign agents to the detriment of the United States is among the highest priorities of the [US Department of Justice’s] National Security Division.”

It was on a routine checkup on Chun’s security clearance by the Feds in 2012, that the FBI noticed discrepancies and found Mr.Chun had lied on his paperwork, by not declaring his trips to Hong Kong, China, Canada, Thailand, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

It  was a departmental undercover operation in early 2015, which exposed the depth of involvement. An undercover federal agent, posing as a Chinese-born American citizen who had access to sensitive US government documents, met Chun. Chun in an attempt to recruit him as an informant for the Chinese government, claimed Kolion had Chinese “government backing” and that his family was in contact with a senior government official. He had negotiated for a cut of any money, the undercover Fed  was expected to receive for the leaked material.

Chun was born in Guangdong, China, in 1969, moved to America in 1980 aged 11, and became a naturalized US citizen in 1985. He joined the FBI in 1997 and was given top-secret security clearance about a year later.

As we understand, Chun was introduced to China-based Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd, through his parents in China and their contacts, whom he knew, were linked to the Chinese state. He did research and consulting work for Kolion between 2006 and 2010, including collection of information about flash drive technology.

It is believed that a contact at Kolion paid for Chun’s “five-star” trip to Italy in September 2011 with his then-girlfriend Yan Yi Zhou; the couple met in August that year and wed in late 2013., his all paid-for vacations and nights with prostitutes, while his parents recieved cash, in exchange for his “research.”

On a trip to Italy and France in 2011, Mr. Chun had met a Chinese government official, who quizzed his knowledge about “sensitive, nonpublic F.B.I. information,” the government said. Mr. Chun had also disclosed the identity and potential travel plans of an F.B.I. agent. It’s likely that the consulting work was gently offered to Chun by Chinese intelligence, via his family, to gauge his willingness to betray America.

The Chinese official multiple occasions asked Chun for information regarding, the internal structure of the FBI , technology used by the FBI.

Chun admitted to downloading FBI organizational chart from his FBI computer in Manhattan and sharing the document post editing the chart to remove the names of FBI personnel, in March 2013,. Around January 2015, Chun passed photographs of documents displayed in a restricted area of the FBI’s New York Field Office, which summarized sensitive details regarding multiple surveillance technologies. His modus operandi was to send the photographs to his personal cellphone and , and later admitted to the FBI that he caused the photographs to be transported to the Chinese official in China.

Chun’s is not the first Chinese espionage case pursued by the US Authorities. In a separate case, a New York man has been accused of stealing source code from his employer and exporting to China. China has been blamed for numerous cyber-attacks and data thefts at both government and private companies. Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups have been targeting American companies for both government and industrial secrets.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

FBI Employee Pleads Guilty To Being Illegal Chinese Agent