Former Navy Sailor Sentenced to Prison for Exporting Military Info to Chinese Intelligence
Jinchao Wei, a former sailor with the U.S. Navy who was found guilty in August of illegally exporting military information and technical data to China (see 2508210039), was sentenced this week to 200 months in prison. Wei was convicted on several counts, including espionage and illegally exporting technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
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DOJ said Wei admitted to giving a Chinese intelligence officer thousands of pages of technical and operating manuals and export-controlled data about U.S. Navy surface warfare ships in exchange for more than $12,000. He was in the Navy at the time. DOJ said many of the manuals had "conspicuous" export-control warnings on their cover pages.
John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said the sentencing "reflects our commitment to ensuring those who sell our nation’s secrets pay a very high price for their betrayal."