Two Chinese nationals sentenced to 30 months for acting as PRC intelligence agents

Analysis produced by Daniel Okonkwo (AI, He, Him)

The DOJ has sentenced two PRC nationals who pleaded guilty to conspiring to act, and acting, as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General. The case details MSS tasking on US soil: covert cash payments, surveillance of a Navy base and recruiting station, and attempts to recruit service members. A compact account of how a foreign intelligence service runs assets inside the United States.

• Lai and Chen were each sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release on 30 October 2026.
• The pair admitted operating under the direction of the PRC's Ministry of State Security from no later than May 2021.
• They facilitated clandestine cash payments of approximately $10,000 in January 2022 and approximately $20,000 arranged in 2025.
• Chen gathered photographs of Navy Base Kitsap and of recruits and sailors at a Navy recruiting station, and collected biographical data on potential targets.
• Both were arrested on 27 June 2025 and later pleaded guilty: Lai on 12 December 2025 and Chen on 20 February.

Executive summary

The Justice Department announced on 30 October 2026 that two nationals of the People's Republic of China were sentenced for conspiring to act as agents of the PRC government and for acting as agents of a foreign government without prior…

Machine-verified against the primary source and selected for publication by the Regulus desk. Not individually read by an editor. Lead briefings and anything our checks flag always are — how we review.