A San Diego federal jury on Wednesday convicted a Chinese-born U.S. Navy sailor of espionage and other charges related to his sharing of military secrets with a Chinese spy.
The jury convicted Jinchao "Patrick" Wei, 25, on six counts of conspiracy, espionage and charges related to unlawfully sending defense information to a foreign government. The jury acquitted Wei, a naturalized U.S. citizen, of a single count of naturalization fraud.
During closing arguments Tuesday, a prosecutor from the U.S. Department of Justice's National Security Division told the jury that Wei, who was assigned to the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship USS Essex, had been motivated by greed and selfishness rather than political ideology.
"This is not a case about the defendant hating the United States or his allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party," Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Barry told the jurors. "Jinchao Wei's allegiance was to Jinchao Wei. Jinchao Wei was loyal to Jinchao Wei."
Barry told the jury that a Chinese intelligence officer who recruited Wei on social media ultimately paid him at least $12,000 in exchange for technical manuals that contained information about weapons, defense and propulsion systems for the Essex and other similar U.S. Navy ships.
The jury deliberated for about seven hours total on Tuesday and Wednesday after hearing four days of argument and testimony last week.
"The defendant's actions represent an egregious betrayal of the trust placed in him as a member of the U.S. military," San Diego-area U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement. "By trading military secrets to the People's Republic of China for cash, he jeopardized not only the lives of his fellow sailors but also the security of the entire nation and our allies. The jury's verdict serves as a crucial reminder that the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute traitors."
Wei grew up in China as the only child of a single mother, and the pair moved from China to Wisconsin in 2016. Wei joined the Navy in July 2021 shortly after graduating high school, and he reported to the Essex in March 2022, according to prosecutors and his Navy service record.
Around the same time he was assigned to San Diego, Wei applied for U.S. citizenship and struck up a friendship on a Chinese social media site with an individual who prosecutors said was a Chinese intelligence officer.
The intelligence officer initially posed as a naval enthusiast who worked for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, though prosecutors told the jury that Wei quickly recognized he was likely a spy. The intelligence officer allegedly asked Wei to send him photos, videos and other documents concerning U.S. Navy ships and their systems.
Federal agents arrested Wei in August 2023 when he showed up for work one morning at Naval Base San Diego. At the time, Wei was a petty officer who held a security clearance and worked as a machinist's mate aboard the Essex. He'd also been under surveillance for more than six months by federal agents who had bugged his apartment and tapped his phone.
As a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, the Essex resembles a small aircraft carrier that can carry more than 1,000 sailors and 1,500 Marines, allowing the U.S. to rapidly deploy troops in regions such as the Persian Gulf and South China Sea. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley told the jury during opening statements that China is "desperately trying" to keep up with U.S. technology while building its own similar class of amphibious assault ships.
A special agent from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service testified during the trial that the leak of information about U.S. Navy ships, even basic information, "could jeopardize (the U.S. military's) advantage" and reveal vulnerabilities that an enemy could exploit.
Barry told the jury that Wei and his handler used a complex online system to conduct virtual dead drops on disappearing, password-protected websites. He said the evidence was overwhelming that Wei committed the acts he was accused of, and that he knew or had reason to believe that his actions would harm the U.S. and benefit China.
Defense attorney Sean Jones conceded during his closing argument that his client "did some things very, very wrong," but he was adamant that Wei never intended to harm his new home country. Jones said both Wei and his mother were anti-communist and held no allegiance to China.
Jones also argued that prosecutors grossly overstated both the secrecy and importance of the documents that Wei shared, and he argued that the government did not prove that Wei knew that his contact was a Chinese government spy.
The defense attorney likened the manuals that Wei sent about the Essex to "a user's manual for a 30-year-old car. It's not that sexy." He argued the Essex and other Wasp-class amphibious assault ships use outdated systems.
"This is not technology anyone cares about or is trying to copy," Jones said. "It's not valuable."
The defense attorney argued that there was at least reasonable doubt as to whether Wei believed the technical information he was sending would actually harm the U.S. -- a key part of proving an espionage charge.
But the jury sided with the prosecutors, who said Jones was simply trying to muddy the waters with speculation rather than evidence.
Barry, the attorney from the DOJ, began his closing arguments Tuesday morning by reading from a paper the oath of enlistment that all individuals swear to when they join the U.S. military. Barry then crumpled the paper and threw it in a trash can.
"That's what the defendant thought of his oath," Barry told the jury.
The prosecutor told the jurors that on top of betraying the oath he swore, Wei also betrayed his fellow sailors and "his new home. America. It's people. You."
After the verdict, Jones said his client gave up his Chinese citizenship when he became a U.S. citizen and that "he loves America" and never intended to harm it, despite his "numerous errors in judgment."
Wei's arrest in 2023 came the same day the U.S. Department of Justice also announced the arrest and indictment of another Chinese-born U.S. Navy sailor, Wenheng "Thomas" Zhao. The DOJ said Zhao, who was arrested at a Naval base in Ventura County, was also a naturalized U.S. citizen suspected of spying for China, though officials never said if the cases were related.
Zhao eventually admitted to accepting nearly $15,000 in bribes for sending sensitive but unclassified military information to his Chinese handler. A federal judge sentenced him to two years and three months in prison on bribery and conspiracy charges.
Wei's trial comes two months after the DOJ announced charges against two alleged Chinese spies in the U.S. who were accused of taking photographs of a naval base and participating in efforts to recruit U.S. military members who they thought might be open to working for Chinese intelligence.
Wei is set to be sentenced in December.
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