A China-born US Navy sailor who sold sensitive ship information to the Chinese government under the encouragement of his mother was ordered to 16 years in prison on Monday.
Jinchao Wei, 25, was blasted as a “traitor” as he was ordered to spend 200 months behind bars by a federal judge in San Diego for selling national defense information to an intelligence officer working for the People’s Republic of China for $12,000, the Justice Department announced.
“This active-duty US Navy sailor betrayed his country and compromised the national security of the United States,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Investigators found that Wei was recruited by the Chinese foreign intelligence officer, whom Wei referred to as “Big Brother Andy,” through social media while he was applying for US citizenship in February 2022.
Evidence showed that Wei suspected early on that the man — who initially portrayed himself as a naval enthusiast working for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation — was a Chinese military intelligence officer.
Wei told a friend that an “extremely suspicious” individual offered him $500 a day to “walk the pier” to “see which ships are docked” and recognized “this is quite obviously f–king espionage.”
After being offered cash, Wei fed the officer photos and videos of the Essex, ship locations, and weapons details through a different encrypted messaging application between March 2022 and August 2023.
Wei raked in more than $12,000 across 18 months for spying for the officer, including a major score in which he sold a Chinese intelligence officer at least 30 technical and operational manuals on US Navy systems.
The payments the 25-year-old turncoat received from China amounted to about 20% of his annual Navy salary.
Prosecutors also found that Wei’s mother knew about her son’s espionage and pushed him to keep working with Chinese intelligence, believing it could secure him a future job in the Chinese government.
The intelligence officer told him that he and the Chinese government were willing to fly him and his mother, who lives in Wisconsin and has not been identified, to China for an in-person meeting.
Investigators also found Wei searched online for flights to China before his arrest.
It’s unclear if his mother will face any charges.
At Wei’s trial, prosecutors presented calls, texts, and audio messages between Wei and his Chinese handler showing their communications, secrecy, assigned tasks, cover-up efforts, and how Wei was paid.
To stay hidden, the handler used encrypted apps, wiped messages and accounts, relied on 72-hour digital “dead drops,” and supplied Wei with a new phone and computer.
Wei begged for leniency in a handwritten letter to the judge filed days before sentencing.
“Yes, I screwed up,” he wrote, according to the New York Times.
His attorneys sought a 30-month sentence, claiming Wei believed the Chinese intelligence officer who recruited him was just a naval enthusiast working for a state-owned shipbuilding company, and his actions did not harbor “any hatred or animosity towards the US government, nor were they a means to get rich.”
In August, Wei was convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, espionage, and unlawful export of, and conspiracy to export, technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
He was found not guilty of one count of naturalization fraud.
Wei was one of two California-based sailors charged with spying for China in 2024.
The other defendant, Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to more than two years in prison in 2024 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties, according to the Justice Department.
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