First US test take on China’s ‘Operation Fox Hunt’ underway in Brooklyn

A former New York police officer and two Chinese nationals were charged with attempting to intimidate a Chinese dissident and his family in the US, as the first federal trial over Beijing’s alleged coordinated efforts to forcibly repatriate citizens in Brooklyn Was going on.

Michael McMahon, a retired New York Police Department sergeant working as a private investigator, along with Zhu Yong of Queens and Zheng Kangning of Brooklyn, have been “directly or indirectly” alleged by Chinese government officials at his home in suburban Instructions were given to track down the victim”. New Jersey, Assistant US Attorney Irisa Chen said in opening statements on Wednesday.

Zheng went to the property in September 2018 and taped a handwritten note that read: “If you are willing to go back to the motherland and spend 10 years in prison, your wife and children will be safe and sound,” Chen said. Zheng’s fingerprints were found on the flyer.

The trial, which is set to last three weeks, could set an important precedent for other cases brought by the Justice Department as it ramps up its crackdown on the Chinese government’s campaign dubbed “Operation Fox Hunt”, which Beijing says is its The objective is to bring back the fugitives.

US Attorney-General Merrick Garland has said that China “has a history of targeting political dissidents and critics of the government who have sought relief and asylum in other countries”. FBI Director Christopher Wray has defined “Operation Fox Hunt” as “part of the Chinese government’s diverse campaign of piracy and malign influence”.

The defendants in the trial in Brooklyn were originally charged in 2020. The Chinese government had relied on McMahon’s help to find the alleged victim’s address, prosecutors said, telling jurors that the former police officer had followed her home disgruntled from a meeting with her elderly father, who had given her a specific It was brought from China in an alleged attempt to lure it to a location from where it could be tracked.

Lawrence Lustberg, an attorney for McMahon, said that his client was a “hero cop” who “had no idea he was working for China” and thought he was an employee of a Chinese construction company. , who has been a victim of embezzlement.

Zhu’s lawyer, Kevin Tung, said his client thought he was helping collect a “private debt” and was in fact “being used by the Chinese government”.

Zheng’s attorney, Paul Goldberger, said that his client “did nothing but drive up to New Jersey and put a note on the door”, which he returned to remove.

He said the 27-year-old was never told anything that “would lead him to believe that at any point he was working for the Chinese government”.

If convicted, the defendants – who each face four charges – face up to 10 years in prison.

In another case related to Operation Fox Hunt, the DoJ in October charged seven Chinese nationals with conspiring to forcefully deport a Chinese national from the US, alleging that they had harassed the US resident and his relatives for years. Officials also alleged that the Chinese government had “harassed” the targets by filing a case in New York state court alleging misappropriation of funds from a former employer in China.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment at the time.