Two Chinese nationals have been jailed in the United States after admitting to trying to recruit US military service members to spy for Beijing. Liren “Ryan” Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, were each sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement on Friday.The men sought to arrange “dead drop” cash payments in exchange for information related to US national security, the statement also said.
The pair operated a “long-running”, “extensive” and “brazen” scheme to undermine US national security and support Chinese intelligence operations and recruitment in the US, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A Eisenberg said.
According to court documents, Lai and Chen began acting as agents of China’s foreign intelligence arm, the Ministry of State Security, no later than May 2021.
