A New York City police officer and U.S. Army reservist granted secret-level security clearance by the Department of Defense will stand federal trial in Brooklyn next month on charges alleging that he had been spying on behalf of the Chinese government for years after coming to the U.S. as a refugee.
Baimadajie Angwang, a 33-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen living in Williston Park, N.Y., has been out on a $2 million bond since February 2021 after contracting COVID019 behind bars.
He was arrested and charged in September 2020 with acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as well as committing wire fraud, making false statements and obstructing an official proceeding, according to the Justice Department.
N.Y. Daily News reported on Wednesday that his trial date has been scheduled for Sept. 12.
Since at least 2014, Angwang is accused of acting on the direction and control of "handlers" at the PRC Consulate in New York City, reporting on the activities of Chinese citizens in the New York area, spotting and assessing potential intelligence sources within the Tibetan community, and providing PRC officials with access to senior NYPD officials through invitations to events.
According to wiretapped phone conversations, Angwang told his handler that he wanted to get promoted within the NYPD so that he could assist the PRC and bring "glory to China."
The federal indictment also alleges that Angwang told his handler that the handler’s superiors in Beijing "should be happy … because you have stretched your reach" into the country’s largest police department.
The Justice Department said Angwang first traveled to the United States on a cultural exchange visa, overstayed a second visa and eventually sought asylum on the basis that he allegedly had been arrested and tortured in the People’s Republic of China due party to his Tibetan ethnicity.
In fact, a federal investigation revealed Angwang’s father is a PRC communist party member and a retired member of China’s principal military force, the People’s Liberation Army (PLC). His brother is a PLA reservist, and his mother is a retired Chinese government official and communist party member. All three of them live in China.
Angwang would go on to serve in the U.S. Marines and was employed by the U.S. Army Reserve, maintaining a "SECRET-level" security clearance from the Department of Defense. Angwang joined the NYPD in 2014 and was assigned to the department’s community affairs unit where, among other things, was to act as a liaison to the community served by the 111th Precinct.
According to the indictment, NYPD leadership asked Angwang, given his Chinese ethnicity and fluency in Mandarin, to conduct an interview with a New York-based media outlet, New Tang Dynasty Television, which was founded by followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement banned by China in 1999.
A tapped call showed Angwang sought permission from his handler beforehand, and the PRC official said the interview would be "too much of a risk" because "China is totally against it."
"Absolutely don’t go on it," the handler said, and Angwang allegedly agreed to "think of a perfect excuse."
China has occupied Tibet since 1951. The region known for Tibetan Buddhism and the traditional seat of the Dalai Lama has been embroiled in a separatist, independence movement since, and thousands of Tibetans are believed to have been killed by the Chinese government during periods of martial law.
During his time in the NYPD, Angwang allegedly gathered intelligence on ethnic Tibetans working in political offices or running for elected roles in the New York City area.
If convicted, Angwang faces a maximum sentence of 55 years’ imprisonment, federal prosecutors said.
According to the N.Y. Daily News, Angwang was discharged from the Army Reserves due to his arrest, but he remains suspended with pay by the New York Police Department.
