Former New York police sergeant sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison for acting as Chinese agent
Michael McMahon was charged with being hired as a private investigator to surveil a New Jersey resident who was accused by China of corruption, as part of a global campaign by Chinese law enforcement to repatriate alleged criminals living abroad, known as "Operation Fox Hunt."
A federal jury in Brooklyn found McMahon guilty of interstate stalking and of acting as an agent of China without notifying the United States attorney general. The jury found him not guilty of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. McMahon had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
'McMahon, a former law enforcement officer who swore an oath to protect the public, went rogue and dishonorably engaged in a scheme at the direction of the People's Republic of China," John Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said in a statement.
McMahon said he thought he was working for a company seeking to recover embezzled funds, and would not have taken the job if he knew the Chinese government was behind it.
"I was unwittingly used," he said in court.
McMahon was convicted amid a broader push by former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration to crack down on what it termed transnational repression, or the intimidation and harassment by authoritarian US adversaries such as China or Iran of dissidents on US soil.
Republican President Donald Trump's administration, however, has signaled it will scale down criminal enforcement of US foreign influence laws.
During her first day on the job in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi said prosecutors would bring criminal cases only when conduct resembles "more traditional espionage," focusing on civil enforcement instead in other scenarios.
In handing down the sentence, US District Judge Pamela Chen said changes in prosecutorial priorities had no impact on her decision.
"The law is the law," the judge said.
McMahon had secured the support of two Republican US Representatives, Michael Lawler of New York and Pete Sessions of Texas. Last year, the two congressmen wrote Chen a letter urging her to spare McMahon prison time, citing his service as a police officer and dedication to his family.
Two of McMahon's co-defendants, Yong Zhu and Congying Zheng, were sentenced to two years and 1 1/3 years in prison, respectively.
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