In the United States, two Chinese intelligence agents have been charged with obstruction of justice. In order to obtain documents related to the prosecution of a company based in China, they tried to bribe a US government employee with Bitcoin (BTC). However, the latter turned out to be a double agent in the service of the FBI.
A case of corruption linked to the king of cryptocurrencies
Recently, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report summarizing the facts.
From 2019, two officers Chinese intelligence attempted to bribe a US government employeeFBI double agent nickname GE-1, on behalf of company alias “Company-1”.
Legally prosecuting this company in the United States, the role of the two Chinese agents was to steal confidential information to confuse its legal proceedings.
The situation accelerated rapidly in September 2021 : Chinese agents asked the double agent to report on meetings he was scheduled to attend with prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York. This district deals with the proceedings against Company-1.
The following month, GE-1 sent Chinese agents a secret document that was supposed to be related to the prosecution of Company-1. In return, he was paid $41,000, and then another $20,000 in October 2022, all in the form of bitcoins.
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A multinational telecommunications involved in the situation?
Without revealing all the details of the case, DOJ says Company-1 is a global communications company based in China.
On their behalf, Guochun He and Zheng Wang, both Chinese intelligence agents, accused of wanting to delay the legal proceedings against Company-1. Additionally, to use the Bitcoin network, Guochun He is accused of money laundering.
If found guilty, Guochun faces up to 60 years in prison. For his part, Zheng Wang faces 20 years in prison. Currently, both men are still at large.
This relationship only increases the tension between East and West. In recent years, the United States has been increasing its efforts to jam Chinese espionage: the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei regularly about legal changes in the country against him.
In a context where the value of Bitcoin has fallen by more than 70% in one year, this situation could further strengthen the negative pressure of cryptocurrencies among the general public.
👉 Also in the news – the new UK Prime Minister is very friendly to encryption
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Sources: United States Department of Justice
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Always enthusiastic about new technologies, I gradually moved closer to activities related to Web3 during the year 2021. Over time, I wanted to add my stone to the building. It was then that I became an editor, with the aim of explaining cryptocurrency related topics to as many people as possible.
Timothy Bourbotte
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