Brothers at center of Chinese government ‘police station’ bust in NYC have given more than $30K to local politicians

A Bronx man facing federal charges for allegedly running a secret Chinese government “police station” in Manhattan has together with his brother in recent years donated more than $30,000 to New York politicians, including Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul, according to a Daily News review of campaign finance records.

In addition to Hochul and Adams, Democratic members of the state Legislature and the New York City Council are among the beneficiaries of the political spending spree from the brothers, Lu Jianwang and Lu Jianshun, records show.

Lu Jianwang — a Bronx resident who goes by “Harry Lu” — is the only brother charged as part of a complaint unsealed Monday by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. It accuses him and another individual, Chen Jinping, of committing espionage and obstruction crimes by using the Chinatown office of the ChangLe Association, a since-defunct charity group, as a front for an illegal “police station” to track and harass political dissidents in the U.S. on the Chinese government’s behalf.

Lu Jianshun, who goes by “James Lu,” is not named as a defendant in the complaint. However, he is the president of the ChangLe Association, and the indictment states that the covert police station was operating on the third floor of the group’s 107 E. Broadway office “in conjunction” with its leaders.

In addition, James Lu is referenced in court papers as being among seven police station “principals” who “support” the allegedly illegal activities by acting as unregistered “agents” of China’s governing Communist Party.

Between them, James and Harry Lu have since 2006 contributed at least $32,625 to New York elected officials, The News found.

Adams, whose successful 2021 campaign received $2,500 from James Lu, will return that money to Lu in light of the indictment, a spokesman for the mayor’s campaign said Tuesday.

The planned return of the funds comes after Adams appeared as “an honorary guest” alongside James Lu at a gala hosted by the ChangLe Association in Queens this past September. The gala was held to inaugurate James Lu as the group’s new president, and a local Chinese-language news service quoted the mayor as saying in a speech at the event that ChangLe is an “important and powerful social organization” that “makes great contributions to New York.”

The Adams campaign rep referred additional comment to the mayor’s government office, which said in an email about the ChangLe gala: “The mayor is invited to and attends dozens of events each week. His attendance is either to show support for a local community or boost the city and does not constitute any kind of endorsement.”

Like Adams, Hochul’s campaign received $2,500 from James Lu, state records show.

That donation was made in December 2021, a few months after Hochul announced she would run for a full term following ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation.

A Hochul campaign spokeswoman did not return a request for comment on whether she plans to return the money.

New York Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat who represents a section of Queens that includes Flushing, netted a $600 campaign contribution from Harry Lu last May, according to federal filings.

Asked about that donation Tuesday afternoon, a Meng spokesman said the congresswoman has no “personal relationship” with Harry Lu, though she “likely encountered him at local community events.” The spokesman also said Meng “immediately donated funds in an equal amount to his contribution to a local nonprofit” after being contacted by The News.

The New York elected official who has raked in the most campaign cash from the Lu brothers is Queens state Sen. John Liu, according to state filings.

Harry Lu first gave a $500 campaign donation in 2006 to Liu, who was at the time a City Council member. His brother gave $300 to Liu the same year, records show.

Since then, Harry Lu has given $2,100 to Liu’s comptroller and state Senate campaigns, records show. Over the same period, James Lu gave $13,625 to Liu’s campaigns, with the most recent donation of $1,000 dated Jan. 12, 2022, according to state filings.

Liu — who was also in attendance at last year’s ChangLe gala in Queens — did not return a request for comment via a spokesman Tuesday.

Another local politician who sent a representative from his office to the Sept. 26 gala is City Councilman Chris Marte, who represents Chinatown.

Last year, Harry Lu and his brother chipped in a combined $700 to Marte’s campaign, according to city records.

Marte and his spokeswoman did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

Susan Lee, a Chinatown community advocate who’s challenging Marte in this summer’s Council elections, called on him to give the money back to the Lu siblings.

“That’s a decision he’ll have make. I know I would,” she said. Lee also said the arrest of Lu “is a sign that the long arm of China’s oppressive state apparatus has no respect for American sovereignty.”

Also among the pols who have taken money from the Lu brothers are former Mayor Bill de Blasio and failed mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, whose campaigns respectively received $5,950 and $2,000 from them.

Harry Lu was released on $250,000 bond after his Monday arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court. His attorney did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday, and neither did his brother.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, which is prosecuting the case against Lu and his co-defendant, said the investigation into the Chinatown police station remains ongoing.

According to the complaint, the feds do not know the full extent of what the Chinatown “police station” was up to, because after FBI agents raided it in October, they learned that Harry Lu and and his co-defendant deleted their phone communications with their contact at China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Still, the complaint details accounts from several alleged victims of the police station, including a pro-Chinese democracy advocate who lives in California.

The alleged victim, who is not named, alleges he was repeatedly harassed by who he believed were proxies for the Chinese government, including an incident where his car got broken into after he gave a pro-democracy speech, according to the court documents.

Members of the ChangLe Association threatened to hurt another alleged victim unless the person repatriated to China, the complaint charges.

In concert with the police station charges, the feds unsealed two separate complaints Monday that accused dozens of officials with China’s Ministry of Public Security of running online operations to harass dissidents. Those defendants have not been arrested, and are believed to be in China.

With John Annese