30 Months Each: Liren Lai and Yuance Chen Sentenced for Acting as Agents of the Chinese Government and Gathering Information on U.S. Military Personnel
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that two nationals of China were sentenced on October 30 for conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government and acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General: Liren Lai, also known as Ryan Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, were each sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
The Justice Department said the defendants agreed to operate under the direction and control of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), carrying out clandestine intelligence activities in the United States that included facilitating secret dead drop cash payments in exchange for information related to U.S. national security, gathering information about U.S. military personnel and installations, and assisting efforts to recruit potential intelligence assets from within the U.S. military.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Lai and Chen operated in a long-running scheme to undermine U.S. national security by supporting Chinese intelligence operations and recruiting in the United States, and that their activities were extensive and brazen.
U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California said the defendants were directed by a foreign intelligence service to gather information about the U.S. military. Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said the two admitted operating as illegal agents for the Chinese government on U.S. soil, making covert payments, collecting sensitive military information and attempting to recruit American service members.
According to court documents, the two began acting as agents of the MSS no later than May 2021. Lai recruited Chen into the scheme and initially served as an intermediary between Chen and MSS intelligence officers; Chen subsequently received assignments directly from MSS officers.
As detailed in the government's sentencing memorandum, in January 2022, while the defendants were in China, they coordinated with individuals in the United States to leave a backpack containing approximately $10,000 in cash in a locker at a recreational facility in Livermore, California. Such arrangements, known as dead drops, allow operatives to transfer money or information without directly meeting the intended recipient.
Beginning in 2022, Chen also gathered information about U.S. military installations and personnel, including photographs of Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, and photographs and videos of military recruits and active-duty sailors inside a Navy recruiting station in Southern California. Chen also collected personal identifying information about a U.S. Navy employee and maintained detailed biographical information about military personnel who were potential intelligence targets.
In March 2023, Lai traveled to the United States and delivered a cell phone to Chen for covert communications with the MSS. Chen later traveled to China in 2024 and 2025, where he met with MSS officers and received additional assignments concerning U.S. service members. In April 2025, Lai again traveled from China to the United States, and the following month the MSS directed him to travel to Phoenix to facilitate another clandestine cash payment of approximately $20,000.
Lai and Chen were arrested on June 27, 2025, during a coordinated FBI counterintelligence operation. A federal grand jury in the Northern District of California returned an indictment on July 1, 2025. Lai pleaded guilty to both offenses on December 12, 2025, and Chen pleaded guilty to both offenses on February 20, 2026.
The FBI San Francisco Field Office led the investigation, with assistance from the FBI's Portland, Houston and San Diego field offices and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The Justice Department's National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California handled the prosecution.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国海军潜艇驶往位于华盛顿州的 Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton 基地（资料图，本案被告曾按指示拍摄该基地照片）。美国海军官方照片，摄影 Amanda Gray，公共领域，来源 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A U.S. Navy submarine transits to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in Washington (file photo; the defendants photographed this base at the direction of intelligence officers). U.S. Navy photo by Amanda Gray, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
