A San Diego federal jury on Wednesday convicted a Chinese language-born U.S. Navy sailor of espionage and different expenses associated to his sharing of navy secrets and techniques with a Chinese language spy.
The jury convicted Jinchao “Patrick” Wei, 25, on six counts of conspiracy, espionage and expenses associated to unlawfully sending protection data to a international authorities. The jury acquitted Wei, a naturalized U.S. citizen, of a single depend of naturalization fraud.
Throughout closing arguments Tuesday, a prosecutor from the U.S. Division of Justice’s Nationwide Safety Division advised the jury that Wei, who was assigned to the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship USS Essex, had been motivated by greed and selfishness moderately than political ideology.
“This isn’t a case in regards to the defendant hating the US or his allegiance to the Chinese language Communist Get together,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional Adam Barry advised the jurors. “Jinchao Wei’s allegiance was to Jinchao Wei. Jinchao Wei was loyal to Jinchao Wei.”
Barry advised the jury {that a} Chinese language intelligence officer who recruited Wei on social media finally paid him at the least $12,000 in change for technical manuals that contained details about weapons, protection and propulsion methods for the Essex and different related U.S. Navy ships.
The jury deliberated for about seven hours complete on Tuesday and Wednesday after listening to 4 days of argument and testimony final week.
“The defendant’s actions characterize an egregious betrayal of the belief positioned in him as a member of the U.S. navy,” San Diego-area U.S. Legal professional Adam Gordon stated in an announcement. “By buying and selling navy secrets and techniques to the Individuals’s Republic of China for money, he jeopardized not solely the lives of his fellow sailors but additionally the safety of your complete nation and our allies. The jury’s verdict serves as an important reminder that the Division of Justice will vigorously prosecute traitors.”
Wei grew up in China as the one little one of a single mom, and the pair moved from China to Wisconsin in 2016. Wei joined the Navy in July 2021 shortly after graduating highschool, and he reported to the Essex in March 2022, based on prosecutors and his Navy service document.
Across the identical time he was assigned to San Diego, Wei utilized for U.S. citizenship and struck up a friendship on a Chinese language social media website with a person who prosecutors stated was a Chinese language intelligence officer.
The intelligence officer initially posed as a naval fanatic who labored for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Trade Company, although prosecutors advised the jury that Wei shortly acknowledged he was possible a spy. The intelligence officer allegedly requested Wei to ship him photographs, movies and different paperwork regarding U.S. Navy ships and their methods.
Federal brokers arrested Wei in August 2023 when he confirmed up for work one morning at Naval Base San Diego. On the time, Wei was a petty officer who held a safety clearance and labored as a machinist’s mate aboard the Essex. He’d additionally been below surveillance for greater than six months by federal brokers who had bugged his condominium and tapped his telephone.
As a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, the Essex resembles a small plane service that may carry greater than 1,000 sailors and 1,500 Marines, permitting the U.S. to quickly deploy troops in areas such because the Persian Gulf and South China Sea. Assistant U.S. Legal professional John Parmley advised the jury throughout opening statements that China is “desperately attempting” to maintain up with U.S. expertise whereas constructing its personal related class of amphibious assault ships.
A particular agent from the Naval Prison Investigative Service testified in the course of the trial that the leak of details about U.S. Navy ships, even fundamental data, “might jeopardize (the U.S. navy’s) benefit” and reveal vulnerabilities that an enemy might exploit.
Barry advised the jury that Wei and his handler used a fancy on-line system to conduct digital useless drops on disappearing, password-protected web sites. He stated the proof was overwhelming that Wei dedicated the acts he was accused of, and that he knew or had motive to consider that his actions would hurt the U.S. and profit China.
Protection legal professional Sean Jones conceded throughout his closing argument that his shopper “did some issues very, very fallacious,” however he was adamant that Wei by no means meant to hurt his new dwelling nation. Jones stated each Wei and his mom have been anti-communist and held no allegiance to China.
Jones additionally argued that prosecutors grossly overstated each the secrecy and significance of the paperwork that Wei shared, and he argued that the federal government didn’t show that Wei knew that his contact was a Chinese language authorities spy.
The protection legal professional likened the manuals that Wei despatched in regards to the Essex to “a person’s handbook for a 30-year-old automobile. It isn’t that attractive.” He argued the Essex and different Wasp-class amphibious assault ships use outdated methods.
“This isn’t expertise anybody cares about or is attempting to repeat,” Jones stated. “It isn’t helpful.”
The protection legal professional argued that there was at the least cheap doubt as as to if Wei believed the technical data he was sending would truly hurt the U.S. — a key a part of proving an espionage cost.
However the jury sided with the prosecutors, who stated Jones was merely attempting to muddy the waters with hypothesis moderately than proof.
Barry, the legal professional from the DOJ, started his closing arguments Tuesday morning by studying from a paper the oath of enlistment that each one people swear to once they be part of the U.S. navy. Barry then crumpled the paper and threw it in a trash can.
“That is what the defendant considered his oath,” Barry advised the jury.
The prosecutor advised the jurors that on prime of betraying the oath he swore, Wei additionally betrayed his fellow sailors and “his new dwelling. America. It is individuals. You.”
After the decision, Jones stated his shopper gave up his Chinese language citizenship when he grew to become a U.S. citizen and that “he loves America” and by no means meant to hurt it, regardless of his “quite a few errors in judgment.”
Wei’s arrest in 2023 got here the identical day the U.S. Division of Justice additionally introduced the arrest and indictment of one other Chinese language-born U.S. Navy sailor, Wenheng “Thomas” Zhao. The DOJ stated Zhao, who was arrested at a Naval base in Ventura County, was additionally a naturalized U.S. citizen suspected of spying for China, although officers by no means stated if the circumstances have been associated.
Zhao ultimately admitted to accepting practically $15,000 in bribes for sending delicate however unclassified navy data to his Chinese language handler. A federal decide sentenced him to 2 years and three months in jail on bribery and conspiracy expenses.
Wei’s trial comes two months after the DOJ introduced expenses in opposition to two alleged Chinese language spies within the U.S. who have been accused of taking pictures of a naval base and collaborating in efforts to recruit U.S. navy members who they thought could be open to working for Chinese language intelligence.
Wei is ready to be sentenced in December.
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