Brooklyn federal prosecutors drop charges against NYPD cop accused of spying for China
Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against an NYPD cop accused of spying on the city’s Tibetan communities for the Chinese government.
Court filings do not explain the decision by Brooklyn federal prosecutors, except to say their investigation had “obtained additional information bearing on the charges.”
The feds filed the papers dropping the case on Friday.
Baimadajie Angwang, 35, was arrested in September 2020 on allegations that he used his job at as cop in the 111th Precinct in eastern Queens as a means of spying on the city’s Tibetan communities on behalf of the Chinese government.
Angwang was also accused of giving the Chinese an inside look at the operations of the police department, prosecutors alleged.
“The defendant was well-suited to the task,” prosecutors wrote in court papers filed in August.
They noted that Angwang was “a community liaison officer and was fluent in Mandarin.” federal prosecutors wrote in a motion filed in August.
The feds wanted the jury to hear wiretapped talks between Angwang, and his Chinese handler detailing how he could best serve his foreign bosses.
According to court papers, Angwang once suggested to his Chinese handler that he cite his status in the NYPD as a selling point to climb the career ladder in China.
“Let them know, you have recruited one in the Police Department,” Angwang allegedly told the handler in 2018 in a wiretapped conversation.
Angwang, who joined the NYPD in 2014, received asylum in the U.S. after he claimed he was tortured in China because he was ethnically Tibetan, the criminal complaint alleged. In truth, Angwang’s parents were both members of the Chinese Communist Party, court papers say.
China has occupied Tibet since 1951. Though the occupation is more than 70 years old, there still exists an active Tibetan independence movement.
Angwang faced up to 55 years in prison for the charges which included acting as an illegal agent of China, wire fraud and making false statements.
A call to Angwang’s lawyer was not returned on Saturday.
