A U.S. Navy officer who admitted to accepting bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for confidential U.S. military information has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday sentenced Private Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, to 27 months in prison.
The Justice Department had asked for a 37-month prison sentence for Zhao, accusing him of obstructing a government investigation.
In October, Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of collusion with Chinese intelligence agents and one count of accepting bribes, both felonies.
The sailor admitted to accepting nearly $15,000 in bribes from an intelligence officer between August 2021 and May 2023 while working at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California.
According to the Justice Department, Zhao was a secret keeper who secretly collected and transmitted information to China related to naval operational security, military training, and critical infrastructure.
He confessed, among other things, to conveying plans, operational orders, and electrical diagrams and blueprints for Japan's radar systems for large-scale naval exercises in the Pacific Theater.
“Officer Zhao betrayed his homeland and the members of the U.S. Navy by accepting bribes from a foreign enemy,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at Zhao's guilty plea. “While he and the Chinese government officials he worked for went to great lengths to cover up the corrupt scheme, law enforcement authorities remained vigilant in uncovering this shameful plot.”
Chao, a Chinese-born naturalized citizen of the United States, was arrested in July last year and was being held without bail.
“He is ready to take responsibility for what he did,” Tarek Shawky, the sailor's lawyer, said at the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles. court news service. “He trusted people he shouldn't have trusted and made bad decisions.”
Mr Shawkey had asked the judge to sentence his client to 12 months in prison.
Federal prosecutors announced Zhao's arrest at the same time that a second Navy sailor, Jingchao Wei, 22, was taken into custody on separate charges of conspiracy to pass classified security information to Chinese officials.
Wei, who was aboard the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on espionage charges for allegedly providing China with detailed information about the ship and its crew.
