U.S. government officials say they have charged an American citizen living in California with acting as a spy for China.
U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson says the charges involving national security against 56-year-old Xuehua (Edward) Peng were unsealed Monday.
Xuehua Peng, also known as Edward Peng, was taken into custody on Friday in Hayward, California, and was denied bail during an initial court appearance, federal prosecutors said at a Monday morning news conference.
He's accused of being an illegal foreign agent and delivering classified United States national security information to officials in the People's Republic of China.
Anderson says Peng is charged with using secret locations to deliver information, delivering payments, and personally carrying to Beijing secure digital cards containing classified information related to U.S. national security.
The complaint says the Hayward, California, resident acted at the direction and under the control of officials in China in retrieving classified information passed to him by a confidential human source from 2015 to 2018.
