FBI tech pleads guilty to acting as agent of China

FBI tech pleads guilty to acting as agent of China.

A veteran FBI electronics technician – who had top secret clearance – pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of acting as an agent of China, and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Kun Shan Chun, who also went by the name “Joey Chun,” was born in China and began working for the FBI in 1997. Chun’s duties with the FBI included “accessing sensitive and, in some instance, classified information.” He’s set to be sentenced in December.

Chun, 47, was originally charged with four counts of working to “falsify, conceal, and cover up by trick, scheme, and device a material fact.” He allegedly did not disclose his ties to foreign organizations and individuals in a written questionnaire submitted to the FBI for his security clearance, and did not disclose to the FBI that he made contact with “foreign nationals during a trip to Europe.”

The criminal complaint against Chun was unsealed Monday, but dated March 2016.

The documents contend that Chun and some of his relatives “maintained relationships” with individuals who worked for a Chinese technology company and at least “one individual whom Chun understood to be affiliated with the Chinese government.” Chun was allegedly tasked with consulting work in the U.S. for that Chinese company, for which he was given financial and travel “benefits.”

He allegedly met with a Chinese associate in Europe in July 2015 and, around the same time, told an undercover FBI Special Agent that he wanted to introduce the agent to some of his Chinese associates.

“Chun also expressed a willingness to facilitate the passage of sensitive United States government information from the [undercover agent] to one or more of his Chinese associates, including individuals associated with the Chinese government,” the document states.

During one meeting, Chun is alleged to have told the undercover agent that he “expected a ‘cut’ of any payment that the [agent] received for providing information to the Chinese government.”

Chun and the undercover agent also met in New York in August 2015 during a meeting that was recorded, the charging documents said.

“I could get you connected and then I’m going to stay off,” Chun is alleged to have said. “You know, you do your thing, you make your money, I don’t really care, but…if you make any money, just give me a little bit…”

During the same conversation, Chun is alleged to have acknowledged that he knew he was supposed to have disclosed his meetings and relationships with foreign nationals.

Originally published on Fox News.

 

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