Chinese American scientist vindicated with a settlement of $1.75 million settlement

SCIENTIST SHERRY CHEN

Wrongfully accused of being a spy, Chinese American scientist Sherry Chen finally received justice in the form of a $1.75 million settlement from the federal government.


“The government’s investigation and prosecution of me was discriminatory and unjustified,” said Sherry Chen. “The Commerce Department is finally being held responsible for its wrongdoing and for the conduct of its illegal security unit, which has had a devastating impact on my life and the lives of so many other federal employees. No one else should have to endure this injustice.”

On Nov. 10, Chen’s lawyers announced that the scientist won a historic $1.75 million settlement from the US Commerce Department for her wrongful prosecution and subsequent termination from the National Weather Service. “The government’s investigation and prosecution of me was discriminatory and unjustified,” Chen said in a statement. “The Commerce Department is finally being held responsible for its wrongdoing … No one else should have to endure this injustice.”

The settlement - $550,000 from the Commerce Department and an annuity from the government valued at $1.25 million over 10 years – marks the end of Chen's lawsuit.

"Ms Chen's historic settlement is a victory for her and for Chinese American communities," said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, co-counsel of Chen's case. "It makes clear that profiling and discrimination are unacceptable, and that the government will be held to account," she said in a statement.

Chen's case began with racial profiling. Even though she had won awards for helping save lives from dangerous floodwaters, after she visited her elderly parents in China, she was targeted. She was accused of crimes such as espionage, interrogated without being advised of her rights, and then brought under federal prosecution and terminated from employment.

On the eve of trial, however, the government dropped all criminal charges. Sherry was always, and remains, an innocent American. 

“As a public servant, I have been in the front line protecting people’s safety and their property," said Chen. "I made my contribution to this country. I have been an innocent American and a law abiding citizen. However, my life has been turned upside down twice by our government for doing nothing wrong. I am glad to receive the court’s favorable ruling on my MSPB claim.”

Chen’s case was an early instance of what would become a much bigger pattern of the US government’s increasing suspicion of Chinese and Chinese American scientists amid growing competition between the US and China. The settlement is a personal and symbolic victory after years of persecution.

Chen’s investigation and firing predated the Justice Department’s China Initiative, a Trump-era program to counter Chinese economic espionage that, despite its stated goals, disproportionately targeted Chinese-American academic researchers for alleged grant fraud or disclosure issues—and saw a higher number of cases fall apart before trial than the federal average.

In addition to the monetary damages, Chen’s lawyers say that the Commerce Department will also host a private meeting with the scientist and provide a letter acknowledging her record and accomplishments as a government hydrologist.

It’s not quite the apology that Chen’s supporters, organized by the advocacy organization APA Justice and signed by over 1,000 individuals and organizations, demanded in an open letter sent earlier this year to Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce. However, the chance to sit down with Commerce Department officials and the promise of a written acknowledgement “were very important to Ms. Chen and were negotiated as part of the settlement,” Gorski told us.

The symbolism of her settlement may be especially welcome in the aftermath of the ill-fated China Initiative, which MIT Technology Review investigated last year and found to be ineffective with respect to its stated goals and to have overwhelmingly targeted individuals of Chinese heritage, who made up 90% of defendants.

The Biden administration officially ended the China Initiative in February, but numerous studies have pointed to its broader chilling effects on scientific collaboration between the US and China, as well as declining interest in the United States as a destination for higher education and research. Not to mention the lingering personal effects for individuals caught up in the web, even if they were ultimately cleared.

That gives added significance to the outcome of Chen’s lawsuits. “It’s an enormous victory for Ms. Chen personally,” said Gorski, “and for the Chinese American community as well. The settlement makes clear that when the government discriminates, it’s going to be held accountable.”

Chen's victory was cheered by Chinese American community members. “The Sherry Chen case has meant so much to Asian Americans, especially Chinese immigrants, because they identify with her," said Committee of 100 President Frank H. Wu. 

"Sherry could be your sister, cousin, or aunt. She is representative. Even though she wanted to contribute to America, she was singled out on account of who she is. So many of us have had that experience too.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

A 'rogue' security unit targeted Asian American staff at the Commerce Department

A security unit within the Department of Commerce targeted Chinese American staff in their eagerness to find signs of foreign influence, according to Senate investigators' report.

The Commerce Department's Investigations and Threat Management Service acted like a “a rogue, unaccountable police force.”

The office operated far beyond the bounds of federal law enforcement norms and has created an environment of paranoia and retaliation at the department,' John Costello, a former deputy assistant secretary of intelligence and security at Commerce under President Trump, told the Washington Post.

The report found that the work of the unit — consumed by concerns about rampant Chinese espionage in the United States — racially profiled some of their suspects, and that its members used questionable tactics, such as sending masked agents to break into offices, and blocking surveillance cameras to search for incriminating evidence.

More than a dozen whistleblowers have given closed-door statements, among them former investigators who allege that the office routinely overstepped its legal limits and has operated without meaningful oversight from within Commerce since the mid-2000s.

The unit, led by career officer George D. Lee, specifically “targeted departmental divisions with comparably high proportions of Asian American employees.”

A former senior Commerce Department official interviewed by Senate investigators described the targeting of Asian American employees as a “fine line between extra scrutiny and xenophobia, and one that I.T.M.S. regularly crossed.”

Attempts to get response from Lee from various media have been unsuccessful.

Under the controversial China Initiative that came out of the Trump administration and meant to uncover suspected spies for the Peoples Republic of China, the Senate report explained how those fears fueled an aggressive, unauthorized counterespionage effort inside the Commerce Department that houses scientific agencies staffed by researchers from around the world. The result, it said, was a discriminatory effort to target and spy on people of Asian and Middle Eastern descent — many of them Asian Americans, but some from Iran and Iraq — even in the absence of reasonable suspicion, reports the New York Times.

One of the high-profile cases that came out of the unit's investigations involved Sherry Chen and described in the Senate report. 

Chen is an award-winning hydrologist at the National Weather Service and a naturalized American citizen born in China. She was accused of espionage, arrested and told she faced 25 years in prison and $1 million in fines. A week before she was scheduled to go on trial, prosecutors dropped all charges against Chen without explanation. With her career tarnished, she also was not allowed to return to her job.

The Biden administration stopped the unit's work in March. The complete Senate report will be issued later this year.

AsAm advocates call for reinstatement of Chinese American scientist

Sherry Chen speaks at a news conference in Washington, D.C.

By Louis Chan
ASAM NEWS

COMMUNITY LEADERS and politicians Wednesday (May 23) called for the reinstatement of Sherry Chen, who was fired from her job as a government scientist with the Department of Commerce’s National Weather Service in Ohio, even after spy charges against her were dropped.

Last month, as AsAmNews first reported, a judge with the Merit System Protection Board, recently ordered her reinstatement with back pay and called the decision to fire her a “gross injustice.”

The Department of Commerce has announced its intention to appeal the decision by the judge.

“I’m appalled that no one in management who handled my case stood up to protect me or even questioned the scandalous activities during the entire process,” said Chen to the media Wednesday. “My reputation and career were severely damaged. My family and I suffered enormously through the ordeal.”

The news conference was organized by the Committee of 100, United Chinese Americans and the Ohio Chinese American Association.

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus also released a letter it sent to the Department of Commerce calling for a full and independent investigation” of the case.

“It does not appear that anyone at the Department has been held accountable for the pattern of misconduct in Ms. Chen’s case, the letter stated. “We remain concerned that her case reflects systematic problems at the Department and warrants further review.”

The letter was signed by 31 representative of Congress.

“We are doing this because we will not tolerate Chinese Americans or Asian Americans being treated as second-class citizens,” Rep Judy Chu (D-CA), the president of CAPAC, said at the news conference. “No American should have to live in fear that their entire lives may be turned upside down due to wrongful accusations and unwarranted racial profiling. There is no room for this sort of prejudice in our federal government or in our country.”

Also present at the news conference was Dr. Xiaoxing Xi of Temple University who also was arrested and charged with spying for China. His case was also dropped before going to trial.

“I am outraged at the false prosecution by the federal government of Sherry,” he said. “I know a little bit about what the nightmare was for Sherry. I too was taken away from my home in handcuffs by armed FBI agents. How could these agents and officials take such unconsciousable actions against Sherry. There can be no logical explanation other than she is a Chinese American. This is not right. This is racial profiling. It is against the country’s ideals that all are created equal. It will lead to more innocent Americans to be falsely charged of spying for China. It must stop.”

Chen said the government’s action is a threat to all.

“By pursuing wrongful prosecution and wrongful termination, the government has sent out a chilling and dangerous message to the public that anyone is at risk of being wrongfully terminated,” she said.

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'Unjust' firing of Chinese American scientist overturned

Sherry Chen will be reinstated in her job with the National Weather Service.

ASAM NEWS

A JUDGE HAS ORDERED the reinstatement of a Chinese/American government scientist in Ohio who was fired after being wrongly accused of spying for China.
Chief Administrative Judge Michele Schroeder of the Merit Systems Protection Board has directed the National Weather Service to reinstate Sherry Chen, plus give her back pay and benefits, reports Xinhua.

The ruling which was also confirmed by the Sherry Chen Defense Fund stems from her arrest in 2014 and subsequent firing in 2016. Judge Schroeder ruled that the Department of Commerce which overseas the National Weather Service did not have just cause to dismiss her.

The case has been singled out by members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as an example of racial profiling of Chinese and Asian Americans.

In his 130 page decision, the judge called baseless accusations that Chen attempted to obtain secret information from a government data base for a Chinese official.

“We hope this decision sends a strong message to the federal government: stop targeting innocent Chinese Americans,” the fund said in a statement released following the judge’s decision.

“Three and a half years after her wrongful arrest in October,2014 and two years after her termination in March 2016, Sherry Chen finally has received justice,” said the statement.The judge completely rejected the DOC’s many allegations against Chen that arose from its claim that she purportedly attempted to obtain secret information from a restricted government database for an official in China.  

Schroeder questioned the conduct of the DOC, in how it investigated Chen both before her arrest in 2014 and her subsequent termination in 2016.  For example, the judge deemed it “inconceivable” that the DOC’s criminal investigators were selective and biased in producing their investigative reports.  

The judge also found it “troubling” that before firing Chen DOC officials utterly failed to include in the DOC file a dozen sworn declarations from Chen’s co-workers that were “clearly relevant” to the termination decision. 

The judge also excoriated DOC officials for “digging their heels in when it came time to support the decision they had made.”  In short, he ruled, they seemed to be “more concerned about being right than doing the right thing.”

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