Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace
By Michael V. Cusenza
Following a three-week trial in Brooklyn, a jury has convicted three defendants—including a Queens resident and a retired NYPD sergeant—of multiple counts of a superseding indictment charging them with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without prior notification to the attorney general, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace announced Tuesday.
Michael McMahon was convicted of acting as an illegal agent of the PRC, conspiracy to commit interstate stalking and interstate stalking. Borough resident Zhu Yong, 66, also known as “Jason Zhu,” was convicted of conspiracy to act as an illegal agent of the PRC, acting as an illegal agent of the PRC, conspiracy to commit interstate stalking and interstate stalking. Zheng Congying was convicted of conspiracy to commit interstate stalking and interstate stalking.
McMahon and Zhu knowingly acted at the direction of PRC government officials to conduct surveillance and engage in a campaign to harass, stalk, and coerce certain residents of the U.S. to return to the PRC as part of a global and extralegal repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” Zheng engaged in interstate stalking of the same victims, leaving a threatening note at their residence.
As proven at trial, between approximately 2016 and 2019, the defendants participated in an international campaign with members of the PRC government as part of “Operation Fox Hunt” to threaten, harass, surveil, and intimidate John Doe #1 and his family, to force John Doe #1 and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to the PRC. In or around 2015, the PRC government caused the International Criminal Police Organization (also known as “Interpol”), an inter-governmental law enforcement organization, to issue “Red Notices” for John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1, alleging that both persons were wanted by the PRC government on corruption-related charges.
Zhu hired McMahon, 55, a retired NYPD sergeant working as a private investigator, who obtained detailed information about John Doe #1, his wife, and his daughter from a law enforcement database and other government databases, then reported back to Zhu and others, including a PRC police officer, what he had learned. McMahon also conducted surveillance outside the New Jersey home of John Doe #1’s sister-in-law and provided Zhu and PRC officials with detailed reports of what he had observed. The operation was supervised and directed by several PRC officials, including co-conspirators Hu Ji, a PRC police officer with the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, and Tu Lan, a PRC prosecutor with the Wuhan Procuratorate.
In April 2017, Tu Lan and Hu Ji transported John Doe #1’s then-82-year-old father from the PRC to the New Jersey home of John Doe #1’s sister-in-law to attempt to convince John Doe #1 to return to the PRC. The testimony established that John Doe #1’s father was brought by a PRC doctor and charged co-conspirator, Li Minjun, and that while John Doe #1’s father was in the country, his daughter was threatened with jailing in the PRC. A co-conspirator conducted surveillance of the home during the visit, wearing night-vision goggles provided by the PRC doctor and PRC prosecutor. McMahon tailed John Doe #1 from the meeting with his elderly father, back to his home, and provided John Doe #1’s address—which was previously unknown—to the PRC operatives.
When sentenced, McMahon faces up to 20 years in prison; Zhu faces up to 25 years in prison; and Zheng faces up to 10 years in prison.
