A Manhattan federal jury on May 13 convicted Lu Jianwang, 64, of one count of acting as an illegal foreign agent and one count of obstructing justice in a case over an alleged Chinese overseas police station in Chinatown. Jurors acquitted him of conspiracy to act as an illegal foreign agent. [1, 2]
Prosecutors said Lu helped set up and run the station inside the office of the America Changle Association in Manhattan’s Chinatown without telling the US government. They said he did so in 2022 at the direction of Chinese public security or law enforcement officials. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The government also said Lu helped Chinese authorities track down a democracy activist living in California. Lu’s lawyer, Carmen, denied that the center was set up on orders from Beijing and said it was meant to help Chinese citizens who could not return home during the COVID-19 pandemic to renew their documents. [3, 4, 5]
The case went to trial after Lu was arrested in April 2023. In 2024, co-defendant Chen Jinping pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of China. [3, 4, 5]
FBI counterintelligence official James Barnacle said after the verdict, "I hope today's verdict sends a warning to other foreign operatives that the FBI remains relentless in exposing and disrupting covert action by hostile nations." Lu faces up to 30 years in prison, and sentencing is the next scheduled step in the case. [3, 4, 5]
