A 60-year-old Chinese spy, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to acting as an illegal foreign agent by operating a covert “secret police station” in Manhattan.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Chen’s actions were part of Beijing’s efforts to target dissidents within the United States. He now faces up to five years in prison.
Chen admitted in a Brooklyn federal court to conspiring on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without informing U.S. authorities.
Prosecutors stated that the covert police station, set up in early 2022, occupied an entire floor of a building in Manhattan’s Chinatown near the Manhattan Bridge.
During the hearing, Chen confessed to removing an online article about the illicit police station at the direction of Chinese officials in September 2022.
Speaking through an interpreter, he told Judge Nina Morrison, “I knowingly agreed to act as a foreign agent for a foreign government.” When pressed by the judge on which government he represented, Chen hesitated before admitting it was China.
Chen also acknowledged that he did not register as a foreign agent with the U.S. Attorney General, a legal requirement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Covert Operations and Crackdown on Chinese Influence
Chen and his co-defendant, Lu Jianwang, 61, were arrested in April 2023. Prosecutors claim Lu’s role involved helping Chinese security officials track and harass dissidents living in the U.S. Both men allegedly deleted communications with Chinese Ministry of Public Security officials after learning they were under investigation.
This case is part of a broader effort by U.S. authorities to combat China’s covert influence operations on American soil.
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
9Chen and his partner tried to delete their communications with an official of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
Peace emphasized that Chen’s guilty plea underscores his office’s commitment “to counteract the malign activities of foreign governments that violate our nation’s sovereignty.”
Chen is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30, 2025. Lu Jianwang’s case remains ongoing.
