A naturalized US citizen has betrayed the US by acting as a foreign agent, a justice department official said. The double agent passed on sensitive information, including surveillance technology documents.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s electronics technician on Monday pleaded guilty to having illegally acted as an agent of a foreign government.
The 46-year-old China-born US citizen, arrested in March, admitted that from 2011 to 2016 he acted at the direction of a Chinese official, Deutsche Welle reported.
He also passed on sensitive information, including travel plans of another FBI agent, photos of documents concerning surveillance technology kept in a restricted area and an internal organization chart.
“At the time, I knew that was wrong, and I’m sorry for my actions,” Kun Shan Chun, also known as Joey Chun, said at a hearing in a Manhattan federal court.
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara praised the work of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division for discovering Chun’s activities.
“Americans who act as unauthorized foreign agents commit a federal offense that betrays our nation and threatens our security,” Bharara said.
“When the perpetrator is an FBI employee, like Kun Shan Chun, the threat is all the more serious and the betrayal all the more duplicitous.”
Chun’s lawyer Jonathan Marvinny said his client regretted his actions, saying Chun “never intended to cause (the US) any harm”.
“The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States … He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life,” Marvinny said in a statement.
Chun is expected to be sentenced in December for a maximum of 28 months in prison, according to the plea deal.
