Feds: Roslyn pair, others tried to force U.S. resident back to China
Seven Chinese nationals, including a father and daughter from Roslyn, were charged Thursday with using threats and intimidation to force a United States resident to return to China, federal prosecutors said.
The eight-count indictment, unsealed Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn, alleges the defendants were operating under the direction of the Chinese government.
"The defendants engaged in a unilateral and uncoordinated law enforcement action on U.S. soil on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China, in an effort to cause the forced repatriation of a U.S. resident to China,” said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Quanzhong An, 55, and Guangyang An, 34, both of Roslyn, were arrested Thursday morning and held without bail, prosecutors said.
They are charged with conspiring to act as agents of the People’s Republic of China, conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking, and money laundering.
Five other individuals — Tian Peng, Chenghua Chen, Chunde Ming, Xuexin Houand Weidong Yuan, all of China — remain at large, officials sad.
Michael Horn, a defense attorney for Quanzhong An, said his client is a "well-established New York business owner and Chinese American community advocate with nothing but legitimate corporations, serving local needs mostly in Queens. He was never working with the Chinese government. We will spend the next few weeks attempting to understand why the U.S. Attorney's Office has jumped to such a unjustified conclusion."
April Wei, an attorney for Guangyang An, declined to comment.
The defendants participated in an international campaign to threaten and intimidate an unnamed individual and his family to force him to return to China as part of “Operation Fox Hunt,” prosecutors said. The initiative is designed to locate and repatriate alleged fugitives who flee to foreign countries, including the U.S.
Quanzhong An, a Queens business owner and the majority shareholder of a hotel in Flushing, acted as the primary U.S.-based liaison for the operation, prosecutors said.
The father and daughter also engaged in a money laundering scheme in which they attempted to obscure millions of dollars from the Chinese government, officials said,
“The victims in this case sought to flee an authoritarian government, leaving behind their lives and family, for a better life here," said Michael Driscoll, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI field office. "That same government sent agents to the United States to harass, threaten, and forcibly return them to the People's Republic of China."
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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