Photo Courtesy of CBP
“Ms. Lin was secreting packages through some of the country’s busiest airports, using her work with the Chinese government to thwart our security measures. We believe this case isn’t unique and hope it serves as an example that the Chinese and other foreign governments can’t break our laws with impunity,” said FBI New York Assistant Director-in-Charge Bill Sweeney, Jr.
By Forum Staff
A Fresh Meadows woman has pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China, without notification to the attorney general, by working at the direction and control of military officers assigned to the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations, federal prosecutors recently announced.
Ying Lin, 48, a former manager with an international air carrier headquartered in China, wrongly facilitated the transport of packages from John F. Kennedy International Airport to China aboard the air carrier flights at the behest of Chinese military officers and in violation of Transportation Security Administration regulations.
According to court filings, Lin worked for the air carrier from 2002 through fall 2015 as a counter agent at JFK Airport and from fall 2015 through April 2016 as the station manager at Newark Liberty International Airport. During her employment with the air carrier, Lin accepted packages from Chinese military officers, and placed those packages aboard the air carrier flights to China as unaccompanied luggage, or checked the packages under the names of other passengers on those flights. Because the Chinese military officers did not travel on those flights, Lin’s actions violated TSA regulations that require that checked baggage be accepted only from ticketed passengers. In addition, Lin encouraged other employees to assist the Chinese military officers, instructing them that because the air carrier was a Chinese company, their primary loyalty should be to the People’s Republic of China.
According to officials, in exchange for her illegal acts, Lin received benefits from the Chinese Mission and Chinese Consulate in New York, including tax-exempt purchases of liquor, cigarettes, and electronic devices worth tens of thousands of dollars, and free contracting work at her two residences in Queens by PRC construction workers who were permitted under the terms of their visas to work only on Chinese government facilities.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said Lin’s actions “as an agent of the Chinese government helped Chinese military officers to evade U.S. law enforcement scrutiny of packages that they sent from New York to Beijing. This case demonstrates how seriously we address counterintelligence threats posed by individuals in the United States who work for foreign governments, such as China.”
When sentenced, Lin faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment. As part of the guilty plea, Lin agreed to forfeit approximately $25,000 as well as an additional $145,000 in connection with her resolution of the government’s forfeiture verdict in United States v. Zhong.
“The FBI and our law enforcement partners do all we can every day to protect this country from the threats we can see, and we work even harder to find the threats we can’t see,” said FBI New York Assistant Director-in-Charge Bill Sweeney, Jr. “Ms. Lin was secreting packages through some of the country’s busiest airports, using her work with the Chinese government to thwart our security measures. We believe this case isn’t unique and hope it serves as an example that the Chinese and other foreign governments can’t break our laws with impunity.”
