Chinese Spy Convicted for Stealing Secrets

For years, Chi Mak, a Chinese spy, stole secrets from a defense contractor and passed them along to his family members who smuggled them into China. 

Some of these secrets included data on how to make our nuclear submarines undetectable.

Mak faces only 35 years in prison.  The rest of his family go on trial this month.

From the AP here:

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Jurors convicted a Chinese-born engineer Thursday of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that could make submarines virtually undetectable.

Chi Mak also was found guilty of being an unregistered foreign agent. Prosecutors had dropped a charge of actually exporting defense articles.  He faces up to 35 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 10.

Mak, 66, acknowledged during the trial that he copied classified documents from his employer, a defense contractor, and kept copies in his office. He maintained he didn’t realize at the time that making the copies was illegal.

Mak, a naturalized U.S. citizen, took thousands of pages of documents from his employer, Power Paragon of Anaheim, and gave them to his brother, who passed them along to Chinese authorities for years.  Mak was arrested in 2005 in Los Angeles after FBI agents stopped his brother and sister-in-law as they boarded a flight to Hong Kong. Investigators said they found three encrypted CDs in their luggage containing sensitive military documents.

His wife, brother and other relatives have pleaded not guilty and await trial this month.

Mak lies about not knowing how to handle classified material.  In fact, he couldn’t get near classified material without having a clearance and being trained on its handling.  Another Chinese Spy case I wrote about is here.