DOJ charges 37 defendants in connection China's efforts to target dissidents and operate a secret police station in NYC
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The Justice Department announced charges Monday against more than three dozen people in connection to the Chinese government's efforts to spread propaganda in the US and target dissidents on US soil.
Officials announced a trio of cases against 37 defendants:
- One case accuses two New York men — Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping — of operating an "undeclared secret police station" for the Ministry of Public Security, which is China's national police force, out of Chinatown in Manhattan. The New York Times reported that it wasn't immediately clear if the men had lawyers.
- The second case accuses 34 members of an MPS task force of operating an internet troll farm to target and harass Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
- The third case accuses an employee of a US tech company, who was working at the time in China, of working closely with the MPS to stifle free speech online. Among other things, officials accused the employee, whose identity is unclear, of removing content that was critical of the Chinese government and fabricating evidence of Terms of Service violations in order to shut down virtual meetings organized by those critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
The US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, announced the three cases in a news conference Monday.
Peace said the cases are critical to the US's "fight against the People's Republic of China's transnational activities" and added that the MPS has "repeatedly and flagrantly violated our nation's sovereignty."
The secret police outpost that Lu and Chen are accused of operating was located two miles from the EDNY's office, Peace said. Prosecutors have charged the two men with obstruction of justice and they're also accused of destroying evidence after learning of an FBI investigation into their activities. They were arrested in New York City on Monday morning.
Peace said that the secret police outpost conducted "some government services," but that in order to do so, individuals acting as foreign government agents must notify the US attorney general of their activities, which the defendants did not do.
More importantly, he added, the outpost had a "more sinister use," including in one instance, appearing to try to locate a pro-democracy Chinese dissident on US soil.
It would have been "unthinkable" if the New York Police Department tried to do the same in Beijing, Peace said.
The second case revolves around nearly three dozen MPS officers accused of being part of a task force called the "912 special project working group."
Peace said that rather than working to "protect people or combat crimes," this task force "commits crimes" by targeting Chinese activists and dissidents online.
Specifically, officials accused the defendants of trying to "harass" and "threaten" organizers that the Chinese government views as a threat to the CCP.
Among other things, the feds say that the 34 defendants repeatedly tried to interfere with and shut down virtual meetings hosted by opponents of CCP; used fake online personas to spread Chinese government propaganda and stoke political divisions ahead of US elections; and amplify conspiracy theories about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result of the case, Peace said, "the world now has a unique, never before seen view of how the PRC government deployed this army of internet trolls."
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
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