TAMPA — A federal indictment unsealed this week accuses a Pasco County man of operating for years as an agent of the Chinese government, alleging that he provided information on political dissidents and American people and organizations to a Chinese intelligence service.
Federal agents on Saturday arrested Ping Li on charges of criminal conspiracy and operating as an unregistered foreign agent. The indictment, which became publicly visible Wednesday, describes numerous contacts Li is alleged to have had with a Chinese intelligence officer based in the city of Wuhan.
Li is an American citizen who emigrated from China, according to the indictment. Since at least 2012, he worked at the direction of Chinese intelligence to obtain information on Chinese dissidents and pro-Democracy advocates, members of a Chinese religious movement, and U.S.-based organizations.
Li, 59, made a first court appearance Monday and was released.
His attorney, Daniel Fernandez, declined to discuss the case, but said Li had made a not guilty plea. He noted that the federal law under which he was charged encompasses a broad range of behavior.
“We’re waiting for information from the government to better assess the situation,” Fernandez said.
Li has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, his attorney said. He worked for Verizon for more than 20 years, Fernandez said, and most recently worked for InfoSys, an India-based information technology company.
He has been married three decades, has two children and owns a home in Pasco County, the attorney said.
“He’s been a model citizen here,” Fernandez said.
Because China places strict limits on the information that its people can access on the internet, the government relies on overseas contacts to conduct research about the U.S. and other countries. They also use contacts abroad to monitor and intimidate Chinese political dissidents, according to the indictment.
Li is accused of being a part of those efforts. His main overseas contact was an officer for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, who is identified in the indictment as “MSS Officer 1.” He created numerous email accounts with false subscriber information to communicate with the officer.
The information he is alleged to have provided to Chinese officials included details about American politicians and the internal operations of his employer. He is also alleged to have provided information about people affiliated with the Falun Gong religious movement. Falun Gong is considered a subversive element by the Chinese government and has been banned there since the 1990s.
The indictment describes numerous messages Li allegedly exchanged with the officer and multiple trips he took to China.
One email message from 2012 concerned a member of the Falun Gong movement who lived in St. Petersburg. Other messages from 2015 included information about Li’s employer, described as a “major U.S. telecommunications company,” that had opened branch offices in China.
Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines
Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter
We’ll deliver the latest news and information you need to know every morning.
Loading...
You’re all signedup!
Want more of our free, weekly newslettersinyourinbox? Let’sgetstarted.
Explore all your optionsIn 2021, the officer sent Li an email asking for information about “hacking events” targeting U.S. companies, including a high-profile hacking of “a major U.S. company by the Chinese government,” the indictment states. Li is alleged to have responded with information about the U.S. government’s response to the hack.
In March 2022, Li sent the officer information, including cybersecurity training materials, about Li’s new employer, “an international information technology company,” the indictment states.
In June that year, the officer asked for information about a person who had fled China to the U.S. Li sent the officer details about where the person was living, according to the indictment.
It’s unclear if anyone else could face charges related to the alleged conspiracy.
The case comes as federal law enforcement officials have tried to tamp down on Chinese meddling in the U.S.
In 2020, the FBI special agent in charge of the Tampa field office addressed Florida lawmakers, detailing alleged espionage and fraud as he described the threat that Chinese influence and exploitation posed to the state’s institutions. Investigations into Chinese meddling at that time had shaken Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of Florida.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors indicted a Gibsonton man, Pen “Ben” Yu on wire fraud charges related to a scheme to divert biomedical samples of drugs and toxins from a University of Florida lab to China. Yu pleaded guilty in May and awaits sentencing.
