FBI Employee Admits To Leaking Information To China
- 8 years ago
An American citizen who worked for the FBI has pleaded guilty to acting as “an agent of the Chinese government.”
An American citizen who worked for the FBI has pleaded guilty to acting as “an agent of the Chinese government.”
A recent U.S. Department of Justice press release describes the defendant as 46-year-old Kun Shan Chun, aka Joey Chun, who was born in China but is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
He began working as an electronics technician for the FBI around 1997 and was given a Top Secret security clearance soon after.
In addition to associating with a Chinese company known as Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd starting in 2006, he is believed to have begun a relationship in 2011 with a self-identified Chinese government official who “asked questions regarding sensitive, non-public FBI information.”
Among other leaks, Chun ended up sending over an edited version of the FBI’s organizational chart and information about the agency’s surveillance technologies at this official’s request.
Around February 2015, the FBI had a China-born undercover employee, or UCE, interact with Chun who soon revealed his dealings with “Kolion and Chinese nationals.”
Recorded conversations with the agent revealed that “Chun expected a ‘cut’ of any payment that the UCE received for providing information to the Chinese government.”
Chun was eventually arrested on March 16, 2016.
According to the release, "acting in the United States as an agent of China without providing notice to the Attorney General carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison,” but his sentence will ultimately “be determined by the judge.”
An American citizen who worked for the FBI has pleaded guilty to acting as “an agent of the Chinese government.”
A recent U.S. Department of Justice press release describes the defendant as 46-year-old Kun Shan Chun, aka Joey Chun, who was born in China but is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
He began working as an electronics technician for the FBI around 1997 and was given a Top Secret security clearance soon after.
In addition to associating with a Chinese company known as Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd starting in 2006, he is believed to have begun a relationship in 2011 with a self-identified Chinese government official who “asked questions regarding sensitive, non-public FBI information.”
Among other leaks, Chun ended up sending over an edited version of the FBI’s organizational chart and information about the agency’s surveillance technologies at this official’s request.
Around February 2015, the FBI had a China-born undercover employee, or UCE, interact with Chun who soon revealed his dealings with “Kolion and Chinese nationals.”
Recorded conversations with the agent revealed that “Chun expected a ‘cut’ of any payment that the UCE received for providing information to the Chinese government.”
Chun was eventually arrested on March 16, 2016.
According to the release, "acting in the United States as an agent of China without providing notice to the Attorney General carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison,” but his sentence will ultimately “be determined by the judge.”