Overview

• Yuance Chen and Liren “Ryan” Lai were arrested June 27 by the FBI in Oregon and Texas and charged under Title 18 U.S.C. §951 for acting as undeclared agents of China’s Ministry of State Security.
• Prosecutors allege the pair facilitated a $10,000 cash dead drop in Livermore, California, in January 2022 and conducted surveillance at U.S. Navy facilities in Washington state and San Gabriel, California.
• The indictment claims they sought to recruit U.S. Navy service members as intelligence assets, including communicating via social media and arranging a tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
• Chen and Lai appeared in federal courts in Portland and Houston today and face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fines if convicted.
• Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel highlighted the case as a demonstration of ongoing counterintelligence efforts to thwart Chinese espionage on American soil.