A former New York police sergeant was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in jail in a U.S. case about China’s pursuit of critics overseas, a sentence that got here after two members of Congress urged the choose to spare him from time behind bars.
Michael McMahon was convicted in 2023 of contributing to a transcontinental strain marketing campaign aimed toward getting a former Chinese language metropolis official to go away the U.S. and return to his homeland. The techniques ranged from Fb messages to a threatening real-world observe on the person’s New Jersey door.
Throughout an hourslong sentencing, McMahon stated he was “unwittingly used” by Chinese language operatives when he took what he thought was a routine non-public investigation job in 2016.
“I never thought for one minute I was working for China, stalking anyone. Yet now I’ve lost everything,” McMahon stated. “This is such a nightmare.”
He was amongst 10 individuals charged within the federal case, which spurred the primary trial stemming from U.S. claims about China’s decade-old “Operation Fox Hunt” initiative. Beijing says it is about bringing corrupt officers and different legal fugitives to justice; Washington deems it an train in threatening and harassing dissidents throughout borders.
U.S. District Decide Pamela Chen stated McMahon aided “a marketing campaign of transnational repression ″ that harmed the focused man, his household and the US.
“This type of crime really does threaten our country’s national security,” Chen stated. She stated the retired New York Police Division officer ignored clear hassle indicators when he agreed in 2016 to assist discover a man named Xu Jin.
Xu, a former official within the metropolis of Wuhan, left China in 2010. Authorities there have accused Xu and his spouse of bribery, which they deny. Xu’s spouse testified that he was unjustly focused for rankling the Chinese language energy construction.
China doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S., so China couldn’t legally drive Xu’s return. However he was repeatedly and insidiously pressed to return.
At one level, his octogenarian father was abruptly flown in from China to press him to return, in accordance with trial proof. Later, a threatening observe was taped to his door telling him to go to jail in China to make sure his household’s well-being.
Brooklyn-based U.S. Lawyer John Durham stated in an announcement Thursday that the ex-officer “went rogue and dishonorably engaged in a scheme at the direction of the People’s Republic of China.” China denies threatening individuals to make them return.
Via his lawyer, McMahon acknowledged looking legislation enforcement and authorities databases and conducting surveillance to collect info on Xu. However the former officer maintained he was informed the investigation was for a Chinese language building firm hoping to get better embezzled cash.
McMahon and his legal professional, Lawrence Lustberg, acknowledged Thursday that the investigator missed “red flags.” However his shoppers deceived him, he did not anticipate the issues they did to badger Xu, and he would not have taken the $11,000 job if he had recognized about China’s alleged involvement, Lustberg insisted, calling McMahon a patriot.
The declare of transnational repression “horrifies him as much as anybody,” Lustberg stated.
McMahon, 57, shook his head as the main points of his conviction — on fees together with appearing as an unlawful international agent and stalking — have been recounted. At different factors, he wiped his eyes, notably when his legal professional talked about the dying final week of one among McMahon’s eight siblings.
Dozens of his family and buddies crammed benches within the courthouse, and a few yelled “shame on you!” and comparable remarks at prosecutors as they left the court docket.
McMahon himself declined to remark. He is resulting from report back to jail in June, although the date could also be prolonged.
His lawyer stated the choose issued “a thoughtful sentence,” including: “It’s at all times tragic when somebody who’s harmless, and I do assume he’s harmless, is sentenced to jail.”
5 individuals charged within the case stay at giant, believed to be in China. Three others pleaded responsible, and co-defendants Zheng Congying and Zhu Yong have been convicted alongside McMahon at trial.
Zhu, whose function included serving to to rent McMahon, was sentenced to 2 years behind bars. Zheng, who affixed the observe to Xu’s door, acquired 16 months in jail.
McMahon drew assist from U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Pete Classes, each Republicans.
In a June 2024 letter included in a court docket submitting this month, they stated they believed McMahon is harmless. Lauding his work and lots of commendations as an officer earlier than a 2001 damage ended his 14-year NYPD profession, the lawmakers requested the choose to contemplate his “unique circumstances” and never sentence him to jail.
