Navy Sailor found guilty of having sold military secrets in China Face Life

A naval sailor could be in life in prison after a San Diego jury found him guilty of selling military secrets in China on Thursday.

The prosecutors said that Jinchao “Patrick” Wei, 25, had used his position as a companionist on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at the San Diego naval base to collect sensitive information and offer it to a Chinese intelligence agent who recruited him in February 2022. Wei. Wei has had a security authorization and had access information on weapons systems aboard ESSEX.

In exchange, the officer paid $ 12,000 Wei over a year and a half.

A jury condemned Wei for six of the seven accusations: espionage, a conspiracy in order to commit spying, a conspiracy to violate the law on arms control and three accusation of violation of the Arms Control Act.

The Chinese citizen admits to steal American trade secrets for new generation national security technology

The prosecutors said that Jinchao “Patrick” Wei, 25, had used his position as a companionist on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at the San Diego naval base. (STR / AFP via Getty Images)

The charges related to espionage bear perpetuity sentences and a fine of $ 250,000.

Conspiracy to violate the law on the control of arms exports and each head of violation of the law leads to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $ 1 million.

The Chinese intelligence officer approached Wei and presented himself as a naval enthusiast working for China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, a court managed by the State.

Wei suspected the officer of being linked to Chinese information.

“Wei told his friend that he was” no idiot “and that” it is obviously a “spying”, according to the Ministry of Justice (Doj).

However, Wei began to spy on the officer, send photos of the Essex and describe the vulnerabilities of ships at the Naval base of San Diego.

A lawyer of Wei did not deny that his actions were wrong but called her as young and naive, arguing that he “had never intended to harm in the United States”.

A Chinese intelligence agent approached Wei, a navy sailor, and presented himself as a naval enthusiast working for China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, a court managed by the state. (Mario Tama)

“It has never been disputed that Jinchao made many mistakes. He was young and naive and unfortunately agreed to share very low information Thursday in exchange for easy money,” said lawyer Sean Jones in a statement.

From March 2022 to August 2023, when Wei was arrested, he sent photos, offered the locations of various navy ships and describes defense weapons on ESSEX, the DoJ said.

Two Chinese nationals arrested for spying on the staff and bases of the American navy

He sent to the Chinese agent “thousands of pages of technical and operational information on the US navy surface warships such as ESSEX that it has drawn from the limited American navy.

American lawyer Adam Gordon said that Wei’s actions showed a “blatant betrayal of the confidence that was a member of the American army”.

Several Chinese nationals, led by President Xi Jinping, were arrested for spying on the American military bases. (Lauren Decicca / Getty Images)

“By exchanging military secrets to the People’s Republic of China for money, he compromised not only the life of his sea colleagues, but also the security of the whole nation and our allies,” said Gordon. “The jury’s verdict serves as a crucial recall that the Ministry of Justice will vigorously continue the traitors.”

Wei should be sentenced on December 1.

Click here to obtain the Fox News app

“If there is only one thing that I can clearly understand, it is that Jinchao loves America. He has no allegiance to China,” said his lawyer. “He made a stupid decision to earn easy money by selling obsolete maintenance manuals to a broken and obsolete steam ship. I firmly believe that his actions had absolutely no effect on national security.

Several Chinese nationals have been arrested for spying on the American military bases. Last month, two were detained in Houston for pretending to collect information on the members of the US Navy service and the bases and recruit other soldiers to carry out tasks for the country’s main foreign intelligence service, the State Security Ministry (MSS).