Uncle Sam accuses telco IT pro of decade-long spying campaign for China

The US is looking to prosecute a Chinese immigrant over claims he has been drip-feeding information of interest to Beijing since at least 2012.

Ping Li, 59, is a US citizen who resides in Wesley Chapel, Florida, having worked for a "major US telecommunications company and an international information technology company" since his move stateside.

The indictment includes multiple allegations claiming Li worked as an agent for China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) and allegedly passed on information related to a wide variety of matters in the US, from China-linked cyberattacks to banned religious movements.

"The MSS often uses 'cooperative contacts' located in countries outside of the PRC in furtherance of their intelligence goals, which include obtaining information concerning foreign corporate or industrial matters, foreign politicians or intelligence officers, and information concerning PRC political dissidents residing in those countries," the Department of Justice (DoJ) said, announcing the charges.

"These cooperative contacts assist the MSS in a variety of ways, including by conducting research on topics of interest to the PRC that can be used to further the MSS's mission."

In 2012, Li is alleged to have gathered biographical information about an individual associated with the Falun Gong religious movement and passed it back to the MSS within a week of receiving the order.

Falun Gong originates from China but was banned in its home country in 1999 and is not one of the five religions recognized by Beijing, largely because its teachings subvert the Chinese government's ideals.

A UK Home Office report [PDF] in 2023 narrowed down Falun Gong's principles to truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. After the 1999 ban, the Chinese Communist Party branded it an evil cult, and years of torture, killings, and forced labor ensued – crimes that continue to this day.

Li is also claimed to have gathered information about his telco employer in 2015 after it opened a number of branch offices in China. He allegedly complied with the MSS's request three weeks later. The indictment does not reveal either the nature of the information or the name of the telco in question.

Li's help was being requested more frequently following the pandemic, allegedly fulfilling three MSS information requests in just over a year between May 2021 and June 2022.

The first of these is said to involve information about the cyberattacks on US companies that were linked to Beijing's state-sponsored groups. This included a "widely publicized" attack on another major, yet unnamed, US company. Li fulfilled this request within four days.

Again, the court documents don't reveal the name of the company or product at the center of the high-profile attack.

In March 2022, while working for an international IT company, Li is claimed to have sent details of his employer's cybersecurity training materials, presumably so the MSS could reverse engineer attacks that would evade technical and cultural defenses.

And finally, three months later, the MSS is said to have requested information on an individual China thought to be theirs but fled the country to the US. MSS supplied Li with the individual's name and suspected US address and Li provided the property owner's details to the MSS later the same day, it is claimed.

"From as early as 2012, Li allegedly served as a cooperative contact working at the direction of officers of the MSS to obtain information of interest to the PRC government," said the DoJ.

"Li used a variety of anonymous online accounts for the purpose of communicating with the MSS, and traveled to the PRC to meet with the MSS."

China has a long history of recruiting US nationals and Chinese residents to carry out various espionage activities on behalf of Beijing.

From source code to trade secrets and other miscellaneous intellectual property – you name it, China has probably hired someone to steal it. 

Its reach even extends to the US military, with former and active serving members of the armed forces all having been caught sharing military intelligence with the Middle Kingdom. 

Sometimes, this is sold for as little as $15,000, which seems like a paltry sum compared to the 20-year sentence Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao faced last year. Other times, only those with the worst OPSEC imaginable get caught. 

Of course, Beijing will deny everything, as usual. ®