New York Man Convicted of Allegedly Acting as Chinese Agent, Running Police Station in Manhattan

A U.S. citizen was convicted by a jury for acting as an unregistered foreign agent and his role in opening a police station in New York on behalf of Chinese authorities. The case marks the federal government’s second win in allegations that Americans secretly worked for Beijing.

The U.S. citizen identified as Lu Jianwang, was found guilty by a Brooklyn jury on one of two federal counts related to acting as an unregistered foreign agent of China and one count of obstructing justice by destroying evidence.

Prosecutors said Jianwang conspired with officials at China’s Ministry of Public Security to open a police station at a Manhattan Chinatown community center, where he held a leadership role. The outpost allowed people to interfere with police officers in the eastern Chinese city of Fuzhou to handle bureaucratic tasks, such as renewing a driver’s license. However, the jury also heard prosecutors' allegations that Chinese authorities used the site to advance political goals on American soil.

Jianwang’s attorney denied the charges and said that the centre was established primarily to help Chinese citizens renew their driver’s licenses when travel to China was difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. The defense compared the setup to an American department of motor vehicles.

The Justice Department argued that to satisfy the foreign agent charges, it did not matter what services Jianwang might have provided.

Prosecutors said that in early 2022, Jianwang attended a ceremony in eastern China’s Fujian province hosted by regional police to launch a global network of police service centers and received an award for his role in piloting the effort.

Once the New York branch was established, a Chinese police officer asked Jianwang to assist in locating a Chinese political dissident in California. The government said Jianwang had a lengthy history of working alongside Chinese law enforcement, including helping halt anti-China protests by Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S.

The jury was shown photographs and text messages and heard testimony from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and the California man Jianwang allegedly helped track down.

The case comes as President Donald Trump is in Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Jianwang was charged alongside Chen Jinping, who previously accepted a plea deal, admitting guilt to acting as a Chinese agent for his role in the police station and is awaiting sentencing.