Chinese accused of espionage are sentenced to prison in the United States

Two Chinese citizens were sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, accused of having been recruited by China to spy on the United States.

Liren Lai and Yuance Chen admitted to trying to recruit American military personnel and collecting information about military personnel and facilities on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security.

According to the United States Department of Justice, the two men organized, among other actions, deliveries of cash to secret points, in exchange for confidential information about American national security.

"Let this conviction serve as a warning: if you put the safety of our soldiers, our fellow citizens, or our nation at risk, justice will find them," said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division.

After arriving in the United States on a tourist visa, Lai recruited and trained Chen, a permanent resident of the country, in espionage activities. Initially, Lai acted as an intermediary with the Chinese services, until Chen began taking orders directly from his liaison officer.

The espionage mission began in May 2021 and was interrupted in June 2025, with the arrest of the two men, who were prosecuted in federal court.

In the following months, they pleaded guilty to the two charges against them: conspiracy and acting as agents of a foreign government without informing American authorities.