NEW YORK (Reuters) :As part of a growing crackdown on what U.S. prosecutors describe as Chinese state-backed intimidation of dissidents and fugitives abroad, three individuals accused of operating as unauthorised agents of China will go on trial in the United States on Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn claim that Michael McMahon, Zheng Congying, and Zhu Yong forced a resident of New Jersey to go back to China to face bribery and embezzlement accusations. They cite this case as an example of what they refer to be a worldwide repatriation effort by Chinese law enforcement known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”
According to the prosecution, Zhu and other individuals employed John Doe, a Chinese national who has resided in the United States since 2010, as a private investigator in New Jersey in 2016. McMahon is a retired sergeant with the New York City Police Department.
They said Zheng attempted to break into John Doe’s house in 2018 and left a message that read, “If you are willing to go back to the mainland and spend 10 years in prison, your wife and children will be okay,” in Chinese on the front door.
On allegations of working as Chinese agents without informing the U.S. Attorney General as required by law, all three individuals have entered not guilty pleas.
In Brooklyn federal court, opening arguments are scheduled for this Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen.
Federal prosecutors have launched many such cases since the 2020 arrests of McMahon, Zheng, and Zhu, including one unsealed last month that accuses two New York City residents of running an illegal Chinese “police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
The Department of Justice has increased its investigations into what it refers to as “transnational repression” by American foes like China. Many of the cases have been regarded by China as a ploy by the United States to discredit its efforts to extradite criminal suspects abroad.
According to McMahon’s solicitors, he thought he was being recruited to assist a Chinese construction business in recouping damages.
He knew that he was conducting the inquiry for civil reasons, according to his attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, who testified in court on Tuesday.
In court documents, Zhu’s attorneys said that he was requested to find someone in order to recover a private loan in the United States. In the words of Zheng’s solicitors, he “did not have information that the activities he was engaging in were directed by the People’s Republic of China.”
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