From the archive · A retrospective
A Chicago student bought dossiers for China’s spies. Then he joined the Army.
A Chicago student’s people-search purchases led to an agent conviction, an Army false-statement finding and a presidential commutation.
The email looked like an exchange of university test material. Investigators said its attachments were background reports on eight people working in American science and technology. The student sending them, Ji Chaoqun, was helping Chinese intelligence identify people it might recruit. His later conviction exposed an operation built partly from ordinary commercial data.
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The account distinguishes the jury’s convictions and acquittals, prosecutors’ descriptions of the operation, Ji’s stated ambitions and the later conditional commutation. It asserts no obtained CIA/FBI/NASA employment.
Sources & further reading
- Biden granted clemency to three Chinese citizens as part of prisoner swapReuters
- FBI affidavit supporting Ji Chaoqun complaintU.S. Department of Justice · National Security
- DOJ conviction announcement for Ji ChaoqunU.S. Department of Justice · National Security
- DOJ sentencing announcement for Ji ChaoqunU.S. Department of Justice · National Security
- President Biden’s Ji Chaoqun commutation warrantU.S. Department of Justice · National Security
