{ "id": "8ee5a8d5-5888-4ee4-a32b-0c999562fd50", "created_at": "2026-04-06T15:52:50.381782Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:21:33.860735Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "16641d58f79fa5a2c6127cb7ba89b16fc7cb49c7", "title": "Chinese Intelligence Officer Charged with Economic Espionage Involving Theft of Trade Secrets from Leading U.S. Aviation Companies", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 37990, "plain_text": "Chinese Intelligence Officer Charged with Economic Espionage\r\nInvolving Theft of Trade Secrets from Leading U.S. Aviation\r\nCompanies\r\nPublished: 2018-10-10 · Archived: 2026-04-06 15:50:09 UTC\r\nA Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operative, Yanjun Xu, aka Qu Hui, aka Zhang Hui, has been arrested\r\nand charged with conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and steal trade secrets from multiple\r\nU.S. aviation and aerospace companies.  Xu was extradited to the United States yesterday.\r\nThe charges were announced today by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S.\r\nAttorney for the Southern District of Ohio Benjamin C. Glassman, Assistant Director Bill Priestap of the FBI’s\r\nCounterintelligence Division, and Special Agent in Charge Angela L. Byers of the FBI’s Cincinnati Division.\r\n“This indictment alleges that a Chinese intelligence officer sought to steal trade secrets and other sensitive\r\ninformation from an American company that leads the way in aerospace,” said Assistant Attorney General\r\nDemers.  “This case is not an isolated incident.  It is part of an overall economic policy of developing China at\r\nAmerican expense.  We cannot tolerate a nation’s stealing our firepower and the fruits of our brainpower.  We will\r\nnot tolerate a nation that reaps what it does not sow.”\r\n“Innovation in aviation has been a hallmark of life and industry in the United States since the Wright brothers first\r\ndesigned gliders in Dayton more than a century ago,” said U.S. Attorney Glassman.  “U.S. aerospace companies\r\ninvest decades of time and billions of dollars in research.  This is the American way.  In contrast, according to the\r\nindictment, a Chinese intelligence officer tried to acquire that same, hard-earned innovation through theft.  This\r\ncase shows that federal law enforcement authorities can not only detect and disrupt such espionage, but can also\r\ncatch its perpetrators.  The defendant will now face trial in federal court in Cincinnati.”\r\n\"This unprecedented extradition of a Chinese intelligence officer exposes the Chinese government's direct\r\noversight of economic espionage against the United States,” said Assistant Director Priestap.\r\nYanjun Xu is a Deputy Division Director with the MSS’s Jiangsu State Security Department, Sixth Bureau.  The\r\nMSS is the intelligence and security agency for China and is responsible for counter-intelligence, foreign\r\nintelligence and political security.  MSS has broad powers in China to conduct espionage both domestically and\r\nabroad.\r\nXu was arrested in Belgium on April 1, pursuant to a federal complaint, and then indicted by a federal grand jury\r\nin the Southern District of Ohio.  The government unsealed the charges today, following his extradition to the\r\nUnited States.  The four-count indictment charges Xu with conspiring and attempting to commit economic\r\nespionage and theft of trade secrets.\r\n***\r\nAccording to the indictment:\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-intelligence-officer-charged-economic-espionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading\r\nPage 1 of 2\n\nBeginning in at least December 2013 and continuing until his arrest, Xu targeted certain companies inside and\r\noutside the United States that are recognized as leaders in the aviation field. This included GE Aviation. He\r\nidentified experts who worked for these companies and recruited them to travel to China, often initially under the\r\nguise of asking them to deliver a university presentation. Xu and others paid the experts’ travel costs and provided\r\nstipends.\r\n***\r\nAn indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal law and is not\r\nevidence of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.\r\nThe maximum statutory penalty for conspiracy and attempt to commit economic espionage is 15 years of\r\nincarceration.  The maximum for conspiracy and attempt to commit theft of trade secrets is 10 years.  The charges\r\nalso carry potential financial penalties.  The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is\r\nprovided here for informational purposes.  If convicted of any offense, a defendant’s sentence will be determined\r\nby the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.\r\nThis investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Cincinnati Division, and substantial support was provided by the\r\nFBI Legal Attaché’s Office in Brussels.  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided\r\nsignificant assistance in obtaining and coordinating the extradition of Xu, and Belgian authorities provided\r\nsignificant assistance in securing the arrest and facilitating the surrender of Xu from Belgium.\r\nAssistant Attorney General Demers and U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the\r\nFBI and the assistance of the Belgian authorities in the arrest and extradition of Xu.  Mr. Demers and Mr.\r\nGlassman also commended the cooperation of GE Aviation throughout this investigation. The cooperation and GE\r\nAviation’s internal controls protected GE Aviation’s proprietary information.\r\nThe case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy S. Mangan and Emily N. Glatfelter of the\r\nSouthern District of Ohio, and Trial Attorneys Thea D. R. Kendler and Amy E. Larson of the National Security\r\nDivision’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.\r\nSource: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-intelligence-officer-charged-economic-espionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-intelligence-officer-charged-economic-espionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading\r\nPage 2 of 2", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "ETDA" ], "references": [ "https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-intelligence-officer-charged-economic-espionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading" ], "report_names": [ "chinese-intelligence-officer-charged-economic-espionage-involving-theft-trade-secrets-leading" ], "threat_actors": [], "ts_created_at": 1775490770, "ts_updated_at": 1775791293, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/16641d58f79fa5a2c6127cb7ba89b16fc7cb49c7.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/16641d58f79fa5a2c6127cb7ba89b16fc7cb49c7.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/16641d58f79fa5a2c6127cb7ba89b16fc7cb49c7.jpg" } }