DOJ charges five in alleged scheme to target Chinese dissidents in US

The Department of Justice on Wednesday unveiled three cases against Chinese nationals accused of trying to suppress dissent against China's government on U.S. soil.

Indictments unsealed by DOJ detail alleged plots to prevent the candidacy of a U.S. Congress hopeful, including weighing attacking him; attempting to bribe a U.S. tax official to obtain information on a pro-democracy activist; and going after a one-time visiting scholar now working at the behest of China's Ministry of State Security.

"This activity is antithetical to fundamental American values, and we will not tolerate it when it violates U.S. law," Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general leading the DOJ's National Security Division, said in a statement. "The Department of Justice will defend the rights of Americans and those who come to live, work, and study in the United States. We will not allow any foreign government to impede their freedom of speech, to deny them the protection of our laws or to threaten their safety or the safety of their families."

The department announced various charges against five individuals across three distinct cases, all of whom prosecutors say were part of an effort to spy on and harass Chinese dissidents within the U.S.

One of the individuals whose charges were unveiled Wednesday, Qiming Lin, is accused of orchestrating a scheme to harass and smear the congressional candidate. The charging documents don't identify the candidate, but appear to reference Xiong Yan, who is running in the Democratic primary to represent New York's 1st Congressional District.

Prosecutors say that Lin worked with private investigators to undermine Yan's candidacy. The proposed schemes included violently assaulting him and even hiring a woman to form a sexual relationship with Yan and record their encounters.

The DOJ said that Lin is still at large.

The indictments come as DOJ last month scrapped the Trump-era China Initiative designed to specifically focus on national security threats from the Chinese government.

Olsen said the Chinese government remains a top threat to the U.S., but the initiative downplayed the threats present from a number of countries and put a spotlight on China amid a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.

"The department's actions over the past few years have been driven by genuine national security concerns, but by grouping cases under the China initiative rubric, we help give rise to a harmful perception that the Department of Justice applies a lower standard to its investigation and prosecution of criminal conduct related to that country, or that we in some way view people with racial, ethnic or familial ties to China differently," Olsen said in a speech at George Mason University.

Three of those whose charges were announced Wednesday - Fan Liu, Matthew Ziburis and Shujun Wang - were arrested this week.

Wang, a 73-year-old Queens resident, helped found a pro-democracy organization in New York, but allegedly used it to spy on dissidents while reporting his findings to Chinese intelligence officials.

Liu, Ziburis and Qiang Sun are facing various charges including conspiracy to bribe a federal official as part of an alleged effort to obtain the tax returns of a pro-democracy activist in the U.S.

According to the charging documents, Liu, who heads a media firm in New York, hired Ziburis, a bodyguard and former corrections officer in Florida, to compile information on 13 people. Liu is accused of hiring an investigator, who was cooperating with law enforcement, to bribe a tax official.

"The complaints unsealed today reveal the outrageous and dangerous lengths to which the PRC government's secret police and these defendants have gone to attack the rule of law and freedom in New York City and elsewhere in the United States," Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Wednesday.