Ping Li, 59, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of China without notification to the attorney general.
According to the plea agreement and other court filings, the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) is in charge of civilian intelligence collection for the PRC. The MSS often uses “cooperative contacts” located in countries outside of the PRC in furtherance of their intelligence goals, which include obtaining information concerning foreign corporate or industrial matters, foreign politicians or intelligence officers and information concerning PRC political dissidents residing in those countries.
These cooperative contacts assist the MSS in various ways, including conducting research on topics of interest to the PRC that can be used to further the MSS’s mission.
Li was a United States citizen who immigrated to the United States from the PRC. Li worked for a major U.S. telecommunications company and an international information technology company at various times.
Li admitted that, from at least as early as 2012, he served as a cooperative contact working at the direction of officers of the MSS to obtain information of interest to the PRC government. Li obtained a wide variety information at the request of the MSS, including information concerning Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement and U.S.-based non-governmental organizations, and reported that information to the MSS.
Li also provided the MSS with information obtained from his employer. Li used a variety of anonymous online accounts for the purpose of communicating with the MSS and travelled to the PRC to meet with the MSS.
For example, in August 2012, an MSS officer requested that Li provide information about practitioners of Falun Gong and pro-democracy advocates in the United States. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a religious movement that originated in the PRC in the 1990s. Falun Gong is not one of the five religions formally recognised by the PRC government, and it has been banned since 1999.
Its adherents, both in China and abroad, are of particular interest to the PRC government because of Falun Gong’s advocacy of ideas deemed subversive to the PRC government. Less than a week after receiving this request, Li sent the name and biographical information of an individual affiliated with Falun Gong residing in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In March 2015, an MSS officer requested information from Li about branch offices that Li’s employer, a major U.S. telecommunications company, had opened in the PRC. Li responded with the requested information three weeks later.
In March 2017, an MSS officer requested a training instruction plan from Li. In April 2017, Li responded, indicating that he had uploaded materials to an online account that he shared with the MSS officer and asked the MSS officer to delete the materials after reading them.
In May 2021, an MSS officer requested information from Li concerning hacking events targeting United States companies, including a widely publicised hacking of a major United States company by the Chinese government. Within four days, Li responded with the requested information.
In March 2022, an MSS officer requested information from Li concerning Li’s new employer, an international information technology company, as well as materials relating to cybersecurity training. That same day, Li sent the requested information about his employer and materials relating to cybersecurity training.
In June 2022, an MSS officer requested information from Li concerning an individual who, according to the officer, had resided in the PRC but fled to the United States and provided the name and suspected residential address in the United States of that individual. That same day, Li responded with information about the owners of that residential address.
If convicted, Li faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
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