Chinese Spies Allegedly Attempted Crypto-Enabled Bribe with US Government Officials

Earlier this week, the United States Department of Justice confirmed that they had charged two Chinese spies after finding that they had tried to meddle in the government’s ongoing legal case against telecoms giant Huawei.

International Espionage at the Highest Level

A charge was unveiled against both alleged spies earlier this week, with the Justice Department revealing that the two men – named Guochun He and Zheng Wang – had attempted to obstruct an ongoing probe into Huawei, one of the largest telecommunications companies worldwide.

Although the Justice Department was committed to not naming the company involved, several news outlets – including CNN – confirmed that the men involved were Huawei employees.

For a while, the US government has been probing Huawei over the company’s act of allegedly providing backdoors in its mobile devices to help the Chinese government spy on foreign government officials and business executives. Because of Huawei’s connection to the Chinese government, Washington has taken significant action against the company, including restricting its ability to do business in the US and imposing visa restrictions on some of its top officials.

It is worth noting that Huawei isn’t the only company to be “blackballed” by Washington. However, it appears to be the primary culprit in what can only be termed attempted corporate and government espionage.

As the Justice Department explained, the two spies in question had been building relationships with an unnamed employee of an American law enforcement agency to receive information about possible evidence, witnesses, and more that could be beneficial in the case.

In exchange for these prosecutors’ confidential documents concerning the case, the spies paid bribes in BTC. The Justice Department claimed that $61,000 had been paid by the spies, with most of the transactions taking place in October 2022.

Attorney-General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that they could charge both spies with conspiracy to forcibly repatriate PRC nationals, conspiracy to act as an illegal agent of a foreign country, and attempted obstruction of criminal prosecution.

Interestingly, the Justice Department also filed another complaint detailing a much larger sting operation. In this second case, 13 people were indicted. The defendants remain at large, with the government now looking to bring them to book.

Contrast to Beijing’s Strong Crypto Stance

The discovery is quite interesting, considering that the Chinese government has adopted a hardline stance against cryptocurrencies and digital asset ownership in the past few years. Beijing has done a rather impressive job of cracking down on its crypto selector, essentially outlawing everything from crypto trading to Bitcoin mining.

However, the government has continued to champion the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). With China hoping to strengthen its position in global trade and bolster its Yuan, its government has continued to work closely with tech giants and finance conglomerates in the country to test the digital Yuan.

Earlier this month, the Bank of China reported that digital Yuan transactions had crossed $14 billion. The bank explained that transactions had been conducted in over 15 provinces, with over 360 million individual transactions already recorded. Also, the report revealed that over 5.6 million merchant stores across the country had supported the digital Yuan as legal tender.

Speaking on additional plans for the asset, the Bank of China explained that it would be looking to launch cross-border payments between mainland China and Hong Kong that the digital Yuan would support. It will also focus on exploring cross-border collaboration with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), opening the door for broader adoption of the CBDC.

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