Manhattan man pleads guilty to helping set up secret Chinese police station in NYC
A man from Manhattan has admitted to helping set up a secret police station in New York City for the Chinese government.
Chen Jinping, who is 60 years old, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent for a foreign government in a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Matthew Olsen, an assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice, said Chen confessed to “audaciously establishing an undeclared police station” in Manhattan and trying to hide it when the FBI began investigating.
“This illegal police station was not opened in the interest of public safety, but to further the nefarious and repressive aims of the PRC in direct violation of American sovereignty," Olsen said in a statement referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Prosecutors explained that Chen and another man, Lu Jianwang, opened a branch of China’s Ministry of Public Security in Manhattan’s Chinatown in early 2022.
The office took up an entire floor of a building and provided basic services like helping Chinese citizens renew their driver’s licenses. However, it was also used to identify pro-democracy activists living in the United States, according to federal authorities.
The secret police station was shut down in late 2022 after an FBI investigation began. Prosecutors say Chen and Lu tried to block the investigation by deleting messages on their phones that they had exchanged with a Chinese government official.
It’s believed that China runs similar secret police stations in North America, Europe, and other areas with Chinese communities. China denies this, claiming the offices only provide services like driver’s license renewals.
Chen and Lu were arrested in April 2023 as part of efforts by the Justice Department to stop "transnational repression." This term refers to foreign governments, like China, trying to find, intimidate, and silence people who disagree with them in the U.S.
Chen could face up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on May 30. Lawyers for both Chen and Lu did not respond to requests for comments.
Lu, who is also known as Harry Lu and lives in the Bronx, is expected in court again in February. Prosecutors say he has a history of working with Chinese law enforcement. Over the years, he reportedly helped harass a Chinese fugitive in the U.S. and tried to find a pro-democracy activist in California for the Chinese government.
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