A U.S. citizen and longtime Verizon engineer in Florida has admitted to acting as a Chinese agent to gather intelligence on dissidents and U.S. organizations. Li Ping, born in China, confessed to conspiring with China’s Ministry of State Security to collect information on pro-democracy activists, Falun Gong practitioners, and his former employer. He faces up to 5 years in prison and a hefty fine, with a sentencing hearing expected in the coming months. Li’s collaboration with a Chinese intelligence officer included sharing sensitive information and engaging in hacking tactics, highlighting Beijing’s reach against its targets of interest. On August 23, 2024, Ping Li and his lawyer Daniel Fernandez arrived at the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida for a court hearing in Tampa, Fla. Li, who became a U.S. citizen two decades ago, appeared in a sapphire blue T-shirt at the hearing and expressed no regrets when asked by The Epoch Times.
Fernandez emphasized that the case is not espionage, stating that Li provided information to childhood friends who later became government employees. The information shared was public and easily accessible through a simple Google search. Fernandez added that Li was aware that the officer he was communicating with worked for the Chinese state and that Li is taking responsibility for his actions.
Sherwood Liu, a Falun Gong practitioner from St. Petersburg, recounted experiencing harassment from Chinese individuals in the U.S. after a Chinese security official took photos of him practicing Falun Gong exercises in a local Florida park. Liu believes that this case is just the beginning and that there are many other Chinese spies still living in their community. He commended U.S. authorities for paying attention to covert Chinese operations and hopes that Li’s guilty plea will lead to genuine repentance for his actions.
Recent China-related prosecutions have resulted in guilty pleas, including a U.S. Army intelligence analyst admitting to selling military secrets to China and two California men pleading guilty to bribing the IRS to strip the nonprofit status of a Falun Gong-run organization in New York. Additionally, a prominent Chinese man in the New York pro-democracy community was arrested on August 21 for spying on critics of the Chinese regime using his leadership position in the circle. Please rewrite this sentence.
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