Update on a Chinese "Spy"

[Randy W]

. . . from the NY Times

 

Not sure if we've reported this case previously - couldn't find it - but her case was recently abruptly dropped without fanfare.

 

Accused of Spying for China, Until She Wasn’t

 

Once inside his office, a back door opened and in walked six agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

The agents accused Mrs. Chen, a hydrologist born in China and now a naturalized American citizen, of using a stolen password to download information about the nation’s dams and of lying about meeting with a high-ranking Chinese official.

 

. . .

 

Then, five months later, the ordeal abruptly ended. In March, just a week before she was scheduled to go on trial, prosecutors dropped all charges against Mrs. Chen without explanation.

 

“We are exercising our prosecutorial discretion,” said Jennifer Thornton, the spokeswoman for the United States attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. She added that last year the Justice Department filed 400 indictments and “criminal informations” — charges filed in connection with plea agreements — and dismissed 13 of them, including Mrs. Chen’s.

 

. . .

 

Interviews with Mrs. Chen and her former colleagues and a review of court filings, which include a year’s worth of Mrs. Chen’s work and personal emails, suggest that prosecutors hunted for evidence of espionage, failed and settled on lesser charges that they eventually dropped.

 

“The government thought they had struck gold with this case,” said Mark D. Rasch, a former Justice Department espionage and computer-crimes prosecutor who reviewed the case. “The problem was the facts didn’t quite meet the law here.”

 

. . .

Still, she says, she wants her job back. “I know they treated me unfairly, but I’m proud of my service,” she said. “The forecasting model is very important. I miss my colleagues. I miss my work. It’s my life.”

Mrs. Chen’s benefits and pay have been restored, but she is waiting to hear whether the Commerce Department will allow her to return to work.

 

Edited May 11, 2015 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

. . . and an encore performance from the Justice Department

 

U.S. Drops Charges That Professor Shared Technology With China

 

When the Justice Department arrested the chairman of Temple University’s physics department this spring and accused him of sharing sensitive American-made technology with China, prosecutors had what seemed like a damning piece of evidence: schematics of sophisticated laboratory equipment sent by the professor, Xi Xiaoxing, to scientists in China.

 

The schematics, prosecutors said, revealed the design of a device known as a pocket heater. The equipment is used in superconductor research, and Dr. Xi had signed an agreement promising to keep its design a secret.

But months later, long after federal agents had led Dr. Xi away in handcuffs, independent experts discovered something wrong with the evidence at the heart of the Justice Department’s case: The blueprints were not for a pocket heater.

Faced with sworn statements from leading scientists, including an inventor of the pocket heater, the Justice Department on Friday afternoon dropped all charges against Dr. Xi, an American citizen.

 

[Randy W]

A hotel with CCP connections - from the NY Times

 

Obama Won’t Stay at Waldorf Astoria for U.N. Event; Security Concerns Are Cited

 

With Chinese spies rummaging through White House emails, President Obama has decided not to risk making their spying any easier: He will break with tradition and abandon the Waldorf Astoria, which was bought last year by Chinese investors with deep ties to Beijing’s ruling elite, when he attends the United Nations General Assembly next week.

 

Mr. Obama and other officials will instead take up residence a few blocks away at the Lotte New York Palace, whose owners are South Korean. The White House and the State Department, while vague about the reasons for the change, cited several factors, including security concerns.

 

. . .

 

The hotel’s owner, the Anbang Insurance Group, may not be a household name in China or the United States, but it is highly connected in China. Its chairman is the husband of the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, who was China’s leader from 1978 to 1992. Its board of directors includes Chen Xiaolu, a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army who is the son of Marshal Chen Yi, a revolutionary military commander who later served as foreign minister.

 

If you boot up the in-room computer and you get a Windows XP splash screen, you just MAY be in a Chinese hotel!

Edited September 12, 2015 by Randy W (see edit history)