Chinese Intel Officers Allegedly Tried To Bribe US Government Official With $61K In Bitcoin

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has unsealed a complaint against two Chinese intelligence officers, charging them with obstructing a federal prosecution against a "global telecommunications company based in China."

The complaint filed on Oct. 20 and made publicly available Monday alleged that Guochun He (known as "Dong He") and Zheng Wang (known as "Zen Wang") tried to bribe a U.S. government employee with $61,000 in Bitcoin to obtain crucial information regarding a criminal case in federal district court in the Eastern District of New York against the unnamed company.

While the complaint does not reveal the actual name of the telecom firm, according to a report from TechCrunch, the description matches Huawei. The complaint also states that He is "also charged with two counts of money laundering based upon bribe payments totaling approximately $61,000 in Bitcoin, made in furtherance of the scheme."

The complaint, according to the outlet, alleges the defendants in 2019 "attempted to direct a person they believed they recruited as an asset" inside a U.S. government law enforcement agency "to obtain confidential information regarding potential new charges to be brought against [Huawei] for the purpose of obstructing justice," and remain at large. The DoJ said that the government employee was a double agent working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"As alleged, the case involves an effort by PRC intelligence officers to obstruct an ongoing criminal prosecution by making bribes to obtain files from this Office and sharing them with a global telecommunications company that is a charged defendant in an ongoing prosecution. We will always act decisively to counteract criminal acts that target our system of justice," United States Attorney Breon Peace stated.

If convicted, He and Wang face up to 60 years and 20 years in jail, respectively.

The DoJ has been actively cracking down on crypto-related crimes recently following a significant surge in crimes conducted via these blockchain-based assets. The federal executive department also formed a new unit with 150 prosecutors to combat crimes related to blockchain-based assets.