Garland announces charges against 13 alleged Chinese spies - NBC News

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has charged 13 individuals who tried to "unlawfully exert power successful the United States" for the People's Republic of China, U.S. officials allege.

Attorney General Merrick Garland rolled retired 3 antithetic cases involving abstracted alleged schemes during a property league connected Monday. One lawsuit charges 7 Chinese nationals with trying to forcefully repatriate a Chinese national. Four others were charged with charged successful an quality strategy that allegedly targeted individuals successful the U.S. to enactment connected China's behalf. And 2 different men were charged with interfering successful a U.S. transgression prosecution of a planetary telecommunications company.

In the 3rd case, DOJ does not sanction the institution involved, but the details of the ailment against defendants Guochun He and Zheng Wang lucifer up to an Eastern District of New York prosecution of Huawei, a Chinese telecom instrumentality shaper which the U.S. antecedently charged with stealing commercialized concealed and intelligence spot information.

The ailment says the brace tried to enlistee an unnamed informant, whom they allegedly paid $61,000 successful Bitcoin successful speech for what they believed was confidential accusation astir the Justice Department’s probe and transgression prosecution of the company. Asked during the property league Monday whether Huawei had immoderate transportation to He oregon Wang, a DOJ authoritative declined to corroborate the individuality of the institution successful the complaint.

“As these cases demonstrate, the authorities of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals successful the United States and to undermine our judicial strategy that protects those rights. They did not succeed," Garland said. "The Justice Department volition not tolerate attempts by immoderate overseas powerfulness to undermine the regularisation of instrumentality upon which our ideology is based.”

Garland was joined astatine the property league by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen and different Justice Department officials.