Two Chinese intelligence agents have been charged with hindering justice by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly trying to pay a U.S. government employee $61,000 in Bitcoin to acquire information pertaining to an inquiry into the Chinese tech company Huawei.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated at a news conference to announce the apprehension of the two operatives. “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by any foreign power to undermine the rule of law upon which our democracy is based,” said Garland.
According to the DOJ, the operation started in 2019 when the two intelligence agents got in contact with a federal officer posing as a double agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Justice Department announced that Guochun He and Zheng Wang reportedly intended to run off with documents and other intelligence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
The filing states that Company-1, a multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in the People’s Republic of China, is the subject of a current federal investigation and prosecution. The records the two officers allegedly sought are connected to this case. Separate confirmation of the company’s identity – revealed to be Huawei – came from The Wall Street Journal.
Charges brought by the DOJ include conspiracy to operate as an unauthorized agent of a foreign state, intentional interference in a criminal investigation, and conspiracy to forcefully deport PRC nationals.
This lawsuit was filed by the Department of Justice alongside one describing a wider sting operation and 13 additional people who have also been charged.
The DOJ claims that Guochun He informed the government employee in September 2022 that they would pay additional revenue in Bitcoin for additional information. The agents allegedly gave the worker $20,000 in Bitcoin in October.
Elliptic, a blockchain intelligence company, later said that its investigation of the case’s Bitcoin transactions revealed that the Chinese operatives employed the Wasabi Wallet mixing service to obfuscate the transactions.
Regulators have often cited incidents of Bitcoin being used in criminal activity as justification for prohibiting digital assets and cryptocurrencies. As part of their increased efforts in 2022 to stop cryptocurrency from being used for financial fraud and other illegal activities, American residents are no longer permitted to use the Tornado Cash service, which mixes Ethereum coins.
Guochun He and Wang could each spend up to 20 years and 60 years in jail respectively if found guilty.
