Two Chinese agents sought to influence a criminal investigation being conducted by the US Department of Justice into a significant Chinese telecommunications business, US Attorney General Merrick Garland stated on Wednesday. According to Bloomberg, the two operatives, Guochun He and Zheng Wang, were working for Huawei.
According to a complaint obtained by the publication, He and Wang sought to bribe a law enforcement official in exchange for information about the Justice Department’s investigation. In 2017, the two established a relationship with the employee, who is not named in the case. They allegedly requested information regarding witnesses, evidence, and potential new accusations against Huawei. He and Wang continued to pay the employee for further information, unaware that they were collaborating with an FBI double agent. The two are accused of impeding the Justice Department’s investigation into Huawei. It is unknown whether they have been arrested.
Garland also announced accusations against Chinese nationals in two additional incidents on Wednesday. In the first, the attorney general stated that four people sought to steal technology from the United States, three of whom were Chinese intelligence officers, according to the Justice Department. The other instance includes a multi-year operation by Chinese operatives to force a US resident to return to China.
