Federal prosecutors recommend Chinese spy receive 25-year prison sentence

CINCINNATI — The first Chinese spy to be extradited to the U.S. convicted last year of conspiring to steal corporate trade secrets will be sentenced on Nov. 15th., according to our news partners at WCPO.

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In a memorandum filed Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Cincinnati recommended a 300-month prison sentence for Yanjun Xu, the spy convicted of plotting to steal GE Aviation corporate trade secrets, WCPO reported.

The case will be based in Cincinnati considering local FBI agents developed the investigation with GE Aviation, which is based out of Evendale in Hamilton County, WCPO reported.

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According to prosecutors, Xu was a Deputy Division Director in China’s Ministry of State Security, WCPO reported.

“Xu was promoted within the MSS to a Deputy Division Director with managerial responsibility over both other MSS spies and civilian intelligence assets,” Asst. U.S. Attorney Timothy Mangan wrote in the government’s sentencing memo, according to WCPO. “In that role, he coordinated sophisticated and significant intelligence operations. He directed assets and recruited co-opted employees. He supervised and directed fellow spies at the MSS.”

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One of the people Xu targeted helped the FBI bring Xu to Belgium for what he thought was a meeting with an engineer, WCPO said. Rather than meet with an engineer, Xu was arrested and held in a Belgium Jail for six months until his extradition to the U.S. in 2018.

The defense attorneys have yet to file the defense memorandum, WCPO reported.

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