紐約男子被判犯有充當中國未註冊代理人罪

Recently The Guardian reported the following:

Lu Jianwang (Source: The Guardian)

New York man found guilty of acting as unregistered agent of China

Lu Jianwang was accused of operating a ‘secret police station’ in Manhattan’s Chinatown at the behest of Beijing

Guardian staff & agencies - Reuters contributed reporting

Wed 13 May 2026 19.58 EDT

A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after he was accused of operating a “secret police station” on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the US attorney general that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China’s government locate a pro-democracy activist living in California.

Lu was arrested in April 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges he faced: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China and obstruction of justice.

A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial. Lu faces up to 30 years in prison.

“May today’s verdict send a message to other foreign agents – the FBI maintains its unwavering resolve to reveal and disrupt the clandestine operations of adversarial nations,” said FBI assistant director in charge James Barnacle in an announcement of the verdict.

The justice department has in recent years been ramping up inquiries into what it calls “transnational repression” by US adversaries such as China and Iran to intimidate political opponents living in the United States.

China’s government has called the charges in the case “fabricated” and part of an effort to smear the country’s image. Beijing has said there are centers outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that aim to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.

In her opening statement on 6 May, prosecutor Lindsey Oken said Lu – a naturalized US citizen – had ties to Chinese law enforcement and met with officials who tasked him with opening the station during a trip to China in 2022.

Oken said Lu ran the station out of a nondescript office building in Chinatown. She said he started out by helping Chinese nationals living in New York with renewing driver’s licenses, which alone is a crime if not disclosed to the US government.

Oken said Lu also agreed to help the Chinese government locate a pro-democracy activist living in the United States. Prosecutors did not allege that the activist was harmed.

John Carman, a lawyer for Lu, said his client agreed to open the center to help Chinese nationals who were unable to travel to the country to renew documents due to the Covid pandemic. But Carman said Lu was not tasked with doing so by the Chinese government.

A co-defendant arrested alongside Lu, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiring to act as an unregistered Chinese agent.

The arrests followed a 2022 investigation published by Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders that reported China had set up overseas “service stations”, including in New York, that illegally worked with Chinese police to pressure fugitives to return to China.

The verdict comes two days after the mayor of Arcadia, California, agreed to plead guilty to charges of acting as an illegal agent of China. Eileen Wang, who resigned her position as the plea deal was announced, had coordinated with China to post pro-China propaganda to a website billed as a news source for the area’s Chinese American community.

Translation

紐約男子被判犯有充當中國未註冊代理人罪

盧建旺被控受北京指使，在曼哈頓唐人街設立“秘密警察局”

一名紐約男子週三被判犯有充當中國政府未註冊代理人罪成，此前他被控代表北京在曼哈頓唐人街設立「秘密警察局」。

布魯克林聯邦檢察官表示，64歲的盧建旺在2022年協助開設該「警察局」時，本應向美國司法部長報告其中國代理人的身分。他們也表示，盧建旺曾協助中國政府找出一名居住在加州的支持民主活動人士。

盧某於2023年4月被捕。他否認了三項重罪指控：共謀充當未註冊外國代理人、充當中國未註冊代理人以及妨礙司法公正。

經過一週的審判，布魯克林聯邦法院陪審團做出裁決。盧某面臨最高30年的監禁。

負責的聯邦調查局助理局長James Barnacle在發佈判決結果時表示:「希望今天的判決能向其他外國代理人發出明確的信息 - 聯邦調查局將堅定不移地揭露並打擊敵對國家的秘密行動」。

近年來，美國司法部一直在加強調查其所謂的「跨國鎮壓」行動，這些行動涉及中國和伊朗等美國敵對國家，旨在恐嚇其居住在美國的政治反對派。

中國政府稱此案中的指控是“捏造的”，是抹黑中國形象的陰謀的一部分。北京方面表示，中國境外存在一些由當地義工而非中國警察去營運的中心，旨在幫助中國公民更新證件並提供其他服務。

5月6日，檢察官Lindsey Oken在開庭陳述中指出，盧某（已入籍美國）與中國執法部門有聯繫，並於2022年訪華期間與一些官員會面，後者指派他開設該中心。

Oken表示，盧某在唐人街一棟不起眼的辦公大樓內經營該中心。她說，盧某最初幫助居住在紐約的中國公民更新駕照，而僅此一項，若未向美國政府申報，就構成犯罪。

Oken表示，盧某也同意幫助中國政府尋找一名居住在美國的支持民主活動人士。檢控方並無指該活動人士受到傷害。

盧某的律師John Carman表示，他的當事人同意開設該中心，是為了幫助那些因新冠疫情而無法前往中國更新證件的中國公民。但 Carman表示，盧某並非受中國政府指派從事此類活動。

與盧某一同被捕的被告 Lu Chen Jinping 於2024年認罪，承認串謀充當未註冊的中國代理人。

這項逮捕行動源自於總部位於西班牙的維權組織「守護者」（Safeguard Defenders）於2022年發佈的一項調查報告。該報告指出，中國在包括紐約在內的海外地區設立了“服務站”，這些服務站與中國警方非法合作，向已逃離中國人仕施壓，迫使其返回中國。

在這判決結果出來前兩天，加州阿卡迪亞市長Eileen Wang同意承認充當中國非法代理人的指控。市長Eileen Wang在認罪協議公佈後辭職。她曾與中國方面協調，在一個標榜為當地華裔社區新聞來源的網站上發佈親華宣傳內容。

So, a man in New York was found guilty of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after he was accused of operating a “secret police station” on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan. This verdict came two days after Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia in California, agreed to plead guilty to charges of acting as an illegal agent of China. Apparently, the US is getting serious about its national security.