Former reservist found guilty of acting as an illegal agent of the PRC

Chicago resident and former US soldier Ji Chaoqun was found guilty.

A federal jury convicted a Chinese national and former Army Reservist yesterday for acting within the United States as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ji Chaoqun, 31, was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, specifically the People’s Republic of China, without first notifying the Attorney General; one count of acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China without first notifying the Attorney General; and one count of making a false statement to the US Army. The jury acquitted Ji on two counts of wire fraud.

Evidence presented at the two-week trial revealed that Ji worked at the direction of a high-level intelligence officer in the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (JSSD), a provincial department of the Ministry of State Security for the People’s Republic of China. 

In April and May of 2018, Ji, a Chinese citizen living in Chicago, met with someone who was, unbeknownst to him, an undercover FBI agent. In the May meeting, Ji revealed that he was first introduced to the intelligence officer in question during a recruitment fair while he was in school in China.

Ji allegedly passed along background information on eight individuals – all naturalized US citizens born in Taiwan or China who were living in the United States.

"All eight individuals either currently worked in or were recently retired from a career in the science and technology industry, including several individuals specializing in aerospace fields," the complaint reads. It adds, "at least seven of the eight individuals worked for, or had recently retired from, cleared US defense contractors."

In 2016, Ji enlisted in the US Army Reserves under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program, which authorized the US Armed Forces to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills are considered vital to the national interest. In his application to participate in the MAVNI program, Ji falsely stated that he had not had contact with a foreign government within the past seven years. In a subsequent interview with an Army officer, Ji again failed to disclose his relationship and contacts with the intelligence officer.

Ji's attorney, Damon Cheronis, reportedly tried to depict his client as an oblivious pawn in a larger game of global espionage. He also stressed that Ji had never stolen any government secrets.

Ji has been in detention since 2018. He faces up to 10 years in prison for acting within the United States as an illegal agent of the PRC and up to five years for the conspiracy and false statement offenses. A sentencing date has not been scheduled yet. 

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division; US. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. for the Northern District of Illinois; and Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.

The FBI investigated the case, with valuable assistance provided by the US Army 902nd Military Intelligence Group.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vikas Didwania and Barry Jonas for the Northern District of Illinois and Senior Trial Attorney Heather Schmidt of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

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