A Singapore citizen pleaded guilty to working as a Chinese government agent in federal court on Friday on charges filed by the FBI.
Jun Wei Yeo, also known as Dickson Yeo, worked as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government from 2015 to November 2019.
“The Chinese government uses a series of duplicities to obtain confidential information from unsuspecting Americans,” Deputy Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Homeland Security Division, John C. Demers, said in a statement on Friday.
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“This is yet another example of the Chinese government’s exploitation of open American society,” added Demers.
Yeo pleaded guilty to participating in a plan using professional networking sites and posing as a bogus consulting firm to lure American citizens with access to intelligence, who were potentially of interest to Beijing.
Originally, Yeo worked to attract people from various Asian countries before targeting the US Under the direction of intelligence officials, he worked to find and attack Americans who had access to confidential information, such as people who had the maximum security clearance in the army and government.
According to the Justice Department findings, Yeo paid the Americans to write reports for him, telling them it was for clients in Asia, but never specifying that it was for the Chinese government.
“Sir. Yeo admitted that he not only provided valuable information to Chinese intelligence, but also knowingly recruited others in the United States to do the same,” said Timothy R. Slater, assistant director of the FBI field office. in Washington.
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“The tactics that Mr. Yeo used to attack authorized individuals on professional social networking sites are just one facet of the judicial press that China uses on a daily basis to obtain non-public information from the United States government,” Slater explained.
The bogus consulting company that Yeo created used the same name as a prominent American company and claimed to carry out public and government relations. Yeo also posted job announcements that were largely answered by government and military officials with active security clearances.
The resumes of interest were then sent to Chinese intelligence officers.
Yeo also used a professional networking website to locate and target people of interest. He was then guided through his interactions with them by Chinese intelligence officials. You were instructed on how to identify vulnerabilities such as financial or job dissatisfaction, to use in recruiting your goals.
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“It’s not just about this particular defendant,” said Alan E. Kohler Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division. “This case is yet another reminder that China is relentless in its pursuit of technology and political information from the United States to advance its own interests.”
Yeo faces a potential 10-year sentence for being accused of violating 18 USC § 951 as “agent of a foreign government.”
The sentence is set for October 9, 2020.
