A Singaporean citizen was sentenced by a U.S. federal court on Friday, October 9, to 14 months in prison for recruiting U.S. officials to provide classified political and defense information to China.
The Singaporean, Jun Wei Yeo (Dickson Yeo), was originally a doctoral student at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He pleaded guilty in July to being recruited by Chinese intelligence while at NUS in 2015 and working for Chinese intelligence between 2015 and 2019 to recruit and evaluate Americans with access to valuable classified information, including U.S. military and government employees with high-level security clearances. He hired some of these individuals to write reports on his behalf, falsely claiming that they were for Asian clients, but instead sent them to the Chinese government.
In a statement of facts signed by him and submitted to the court, he admitted that he was fully aware that he was working for Chinese intelligence, that he met with Chinese agents dozens of times, and that he received special treatment during many trips to China.
According to the DOJ, over the years, he passed reports to the Chinese government about military aircraft programs, the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan, and a cabinet member who was not identified in court documents.
He also used various social media sites to carry out assignments given to him by Chinese intelligence officers.
On LinkedIn, he describes himself as a political risk analyst focusing on China and ASEAN countries, saying he “builds relationships between North America and Beijing, Tokyo, and Southeast Asia.
In 2018, he created a fake consulting firm. He placed job ads in the firm’s name and received 90 percent of the resumes from U.S. military and government personnel, which he passed on to Chinese intelligence officers.
Prosecutors say Yang was motivated not only by greed, but also by a shared desire with the Communist government to weaken America’s position in the world.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Kenson said this “was not a one-time lapse in judgment,” adding that Yang “worked for hostile forces on our soil, gathering non-public information of interest to the Chinese regime.
In court, Yang told the judge, “I sympathize with China’s position, but I have no intention of harming anyone.”
The Justice Department argued that he was arrested before receiving any classified information, but prosecutors said he was preparing to receive some classified information before he was detained.
U.S. District of Columbia Federal Judge Tania Chutkan sentenced Yang Junwei to 14 months in prison in an online trial. The sentence was two months less than prosecutors recommended, which the judge said was in light of Yang’s willingness to cooperate with the U.S. government and the possibility that he might be infected with the new coronavirus while serving his sentence.
Today’s guilty plea underscores the fact that the Chinese government continues to target Americans who have access to sensitive government information, including using the Internet and non-Chinese citizens to target Americans who have never left the United States,” said Michael Sherwin, Acting District Attorney for the District of Columbia. We will continue to prosecute those who use deception on the Internet and elsewhere to undermine our national security.”
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