A US citizen who previously worked in China as a journalist has pleaded guilty to illegally acting as an agent of the Chinese government in the US, according to court documents.
Thomas Weir Pauken II was arrested in Washington, DC in February while visiting the city. He was charged with violating US laws requiring individuals acting on behalf of foreign governments to register with authorities before conducting activities in the country.
Prosecutors said Pauken knowingly operated under the direction of individuals affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security, the country's primary civilian intelligence agency.
Court documents allege that since 2019 he had functioned as an "unregistered agent" for the Chinese government, traveling from his residence in China to the US to recruit sources and serve as a liaison for a Chinese intelligence officer.
Pauken, who is in his early 50s, pleaded guilty on Thursday to acting as an unregistered foreign agent. According to the Justice Department, he is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 1 and could face up to 10 years in prison.
"By his own admission, not only did Thomas Pauken attempt to infiltrate US political circles at the direction of China's Ministry of State Security, but he gathered intelligence on his American targets and reported it back to his Chinese intelligence handlers," said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
