U.S. Charges 8 Persons as Illegal PRC Agents Conducting Law Enforcement Operations in the U.S.

On October 28, 2020, prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging eight persons with conspiring to act in the U.S. as illegal agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).[1] In addition, the complaint charges six defendants with related charges of conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking. According to the complaint, the defendants acted at the direction and under the control of PRC government officials to surveil and harass, stalk, and coerce certain residents of the U.S. in an effort to force them to return to the PRC to face criminal charges. The campaign is part of a global, concerted, and extralegal repatriation initiative known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”[2]