A United States Navy sailor has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for accepting nearly $15,000 in bribes and passing military secrets to a Chinese intelligence officer. Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, aka Thomas Zhao, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to charges of bribery and conspiracy. The Chinese-born sailor admitted to exchanging sensitive information with the Chinese agent via a variety of means. Information included video recording, photos of sensitive information, documents, information on U.S. radar at U.S. military base in Okinawa, and OPSEC information on U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific Region.
Zhao reportedly received over the course of two years just $14,866, which was spread out in installments paid from 2021 to 2023, while he worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, Calif. He held a security clearance and secretly collected and transmitted the information to the Chinese operative.
He could have been sentenced to up to five years for the conspiracy count as well as an additional 15 years for the bribery charge. Prosecutors sought 37 months, claiming that the defendant had tried to obstruct their investigation. Zhao’s lawyer sought to have the sentence reduced to 12 months, and U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner opted for the middle ground and settled on 27 months.
“He’s ready to take responsibility for what he has done,” Tarek Shawky, the sailor’s attorney, said at the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles, according to Courthouse News Services. “He trusted somebody he shouldn’t have trusted and made some poor decisions.”
In addition, Zhao, who was sentenced on Monday, was also fined $5,500.
“Zhao chose to betray the oath he took to our country and put others at risk,” Larissa Knapp, executive assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch said via a statement. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates, yet again, the inability of China’s intelligence services to prevent the FBI and our vital partners from apprehending and prosecuting the spies China recruits.”
Beijing Denies Involvement
The United States has accused China of carrying out an extensive campaign of espionage and cyberattacks – an allegation that Beijing has rejected. The Chinese foreign ministry has also claimed to be unaware of any espionage campaign.
“I’m not aware of the specifics, but I would note that high-level U.S. intelligence officials said they made progress in rebuilding their spy network in China,” Mao Ning, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said this week during a regular news conference, per Reuters.
“America on the one hand repeatedly disseminates false information about so-called Chinese spies, and yet on the other hand openly declares it wants to launch large-scale espionage activities against China,” added Mao. “This is a double standard.”
Bad Advice From Mom!
Another Chinese-born U.S. Navy sailor from California, Jinchao Wei, is also facing separate charges in connection with an unrelated alleged plot to pass information to a Chinese intelligence officer. As previously reported, Wei is now facing life in prison after he allegedly revealed sensitive information on U.S. Navy ships. He has pleaded not guilty.
Wei had been accused of providing as many as 50 manuals containing technical and mechanical data about various ships as well as details about the number and training of Marines during an upcoming exercise to the Chinese government. The United States Justice Department charged Wei under an Espionage Act statute that makes it a crime to gather or deliver information to aid a foreign government. The Chinese-born Wei was apparently first approached by the Chinese intelligence officer in February 2022 while the sailor was still applying to become a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Wei’s mother actively encouraged him to spy for China, as she believed it might help him get a job with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after he left the U.S. Navy.
