A U.S. sailor was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for passing U.S. military secrets to China in exchange for bribes, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe, the DOJ said in a release.
“Mr. Zhao betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and endangered those who serve in the U.S. military,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement.
“Today, he is being held to account for those crimes. The Justice Department is committed to combatting the Chinese government’s efforts to undermine our nation’s security and holding accountable those who violate our laws as part of those efforts.”
Zhao worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme near Los Angeles. Between August 2021 and at least May 2023, Zhao received at least $14,866 in at least 14 separate bribe payments from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) intelligence officer.
In exchange for the illicit payments, Zhao secretly collected and transmitted sensitive, non-public information regarding U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure.
Zhao entered restricted military and naval installations to collect and record this information, according to the DOJ.
He transmitted plans for a “large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific theatre, operational orders and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar system located in Okinawa, Japan,” it said.
And he used sophisticated encrypted communication methods to transmit the information.
The DOJ said he also destroyed evidence and concealed his relationship with the intelligence officer.
“Zhao’s conduct violated his official duties to protect such information and the oath he swore to protect the United States,” the DOJ statement said.
The FBI Los Angeles Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division and Naval Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation, while the IRS-Criminal Investigation provided substantial assistance.
“Zhao betrayed his country and disgraced himself when he accepted bribes from an intelligence officer with the People’s Republic of China,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California said.
“As a result, he has now been removed from the military and will serve time in federal prison. Today’s sentence shows that my office will swiftly act to root out and punish those who seek to undermine our nation’s security,” he added.
“Make no mistake, the PRC is engaged in an aggressive effort to undermine the national security of the U.S. and its partners,” said Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI’s National Security Branch, adding:
Zhao chose to betray the oath he took to our country and put others at risk by providing sensitive U.S. information to a PRC intelligence official. The Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly shown it will freely break any law or norm to achieve a perceived intelligence advantage. Today’s sentencing demonstrates, yet again, the inability of China’s Intelligence Services to prevent the FBI and our vital partners from apprehending and prosecuting the spies China recruits.
“NCIS will continue to leverage its unique law enforcement and counterintelligence authorities to vigorously pursue those who attempt to compromise our national security information. We are grateful to the FBI and Department of Justice for their substantial assistance to this lengthy investigation and greatly appreciate our continued partnership,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Angel Cruz of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Office of Special Projects said.
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