The plain, glass-clad constructing stands six tales between a lodge, a spa and a espresso store within the coronary heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.
U.S. prosecutors say it was a secret Chinese spy outpost, with orders from Beijing to silence, harass and intimidate pro-democracy dissidents within the U.S., and a banner inside that stated: “Fuzhou Police Abroad Service Station, New York USA.”
Attorneys for the person accused of operating it, Lu Jianwang, contend it was a group middle — and nothing extra — the place members of the Chinese diaspora may remotely renew their Chinese driver’s licenses amid COVID-19 pandemic-era journey restrictions and meet to play ping-pong and mahjong.
Lu, 64, went on trial Wednesday in Brooklyn federal courtroom, greater than three years after U.S. authorities arrested him at his Bronx dwelling on expenses he conspired to act as a international agent and destroyed proof, together with WeChat messages along with his purported Chinese authorities handler.
Lu, a U.S. citizen for many years, “was residing in New York Metropolis however he was working for the Chinese authorities,” prosecutor Lindsey Oken stated in a gap assertion.
Lu and a co-defendant who has pleaded responsible, Chen Jinping, established the Chinatown outpost in 2022 after Lu attended a ceremony in his native Fujian province the place China’s Ministry of Public Safety introduced it was opening 30 such secret police stations around the globe, Oken stated.
China’s communist authorities makes use of the outposts to monitor folks it “views as enemies of its pursuits,” Oken informed jurors. Among the many witnesses set to testify in opposition to Lu, she stated, is a dissident who was focused by his outpost.
The Manhattan outpost shared workplaces with the America ChangLe Affiliation, a group group that Lu and his brother, Jimmy, helped run and that described itself on tax kinds as a “social gathering place for Fujianese folks.” ChangLe means “everlasting pleasure,” a protection lawyer stated.
Oken acknowledged the group was open about its driver’s license service — however even doing that was unlawful below U.S. legislation, she stated.
Lu labored for China “with out asking or telling the U.S. authorities,” violating the federal International Brokers Registration Act, which requires folks appearing as brokers of a international authorities or entity to register with the Justice Division, Oken stated.
Lu’s lawyer, John Carman portrayed the case as a mundane bureaucratic blip, not a global spy thriller.
“Lu was arrested for basically failing to file a kind,” he informed jurors.
Proof will present that Lu is “not a spy, not a a part of Chinese intelligence providers, not a a part of the Chinese Communist Social gathering, the CCP, and he’s not an agent of the Chinese authorities,” Carman stated in his opening assertion. He stated the case introduced two phrases to thoughts: “No good deed goes unpunished” and “Guilt by affiliation.”
The FBI, spurred by a report from a company that displays Chinese transnational repression, raided the alleged New York Metropolis outpost on Oct. 3, 2022, rifling by way of drawers and paperwork, busting into locked cupboards and a secure, and seizing a laptop and cellphones, Carman stated.
“They turned the place the other way up,” Carman informed jurors.
The following day, Oken stated, Lu admitted to FBI brokers that he established the Manhattan outpost, that he stored in contact along with his handler by way of WeChat and that he had deleted these messages. Carman stated neither of Lu’s two-hour FBI interviews have been recorded. Lu was arrested in April 2023.
Lu’s co-defendant, Chen, pleaded responsible in December 2024 to a cost of conspiracy to act as a international agent. He stays free on bond and will likely be sentenced after Lu’s trial.
Lu, who additionally goes by Harry Lu, sat on the protection desk Wednesday alongside Baimadajie Angwang, a former NYPD officer who was cleared three years in the past of expenses accusing him of being an “intelligence asset” for the Chinese authorities. Angwang, who’s suing to rejoin the police power, is working as an investigator for Lu’s protection crew.
Lu, sporting a darkish go well with, pale blue tie and glasses, speaks restricted English and listened by way of an earpiece as an interpreter translated Oken and Carman’s phrases into Fujianese. He and Angwang each had American flag pins affixed to their lapels.
A number of dozen supporters, together with members of Lu’s church, rallied exterior of the courthouse, holding indicators with slogans like “Justice for Harry Lu” and “Chinese Individuals Are Individuals!” and waving small American flags, as Lu and his authorized crew arrived.
“Nobody controls him,” Carman informed jurors. “If Harry Lu is an agent of anybody, he’s an agent for his group — the native folks in his group.”
“You’ve got the lifetime of an harmless man in your fingers,” the lawyer concluded.
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