US sentences Chinese agents Lai and Chen to 30 months each

Liren “Ryan” Lai and Yuance Chen, both Chinese nationals, each received 30 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release, the US Department of Justice said in its October 30 announcement. Both pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as agents of a foreign government without notifying the US attorney general and to acting as such agents without notification.

The Justice Department said the men worked under the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security, its principal civilian intelligence service. They gathered information about US military personnel and facilities and assisted attempts to recruit service members as intelligence sources. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said the operation sought to undermine US national security.

How the operation worked

Court documents described by the Justice Department place the start of the men’s work for the ministry no later than May 2021. Lai recruited Chen and first passed instructions between him and ministry officers; Chen later received assignments directly from those officers. Al Jazeera said in its October 31 article that Lai had entered the US on a tourist visa and Chen was a permanent resident.

The Justice Department said Chen obtained photographs of Navy Base Kitsap in Washington state and photographs and videos of recruits and active-duty sailors inside a Southern California Navy recruiting station. He also collected identifying information about a US Navy employee and kept detailed biographies of military personnel considered potential intelligence targets.

Cash left without a meeting

The Justice Department said the men also facilitated secret cash transfers in exchange for information related to US national security. In a “dead drop,” someone leaves money or information for another person to collect without the two meeting.

Al Jazeera described payments totaling at least $30,000 but dated the first payment to May 2022; the Justice Department’s account dates it to January 2022. The department has not said how many payments the men facilitated in all or how many people, if any, they successfully recruited.

From arrest to supervision

The Justice Department dates the men’s arrests to 27 June 2025, and their indictment by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California to 1 July 2025. Lai pleaded guilty on 12 December 2025; Chen pleaded guilty on 20 February. After their prison terms, both will serve their court-ordered supervised release, which requires compliance with mandatory and any other conditions the court imposes.