A US journalist sentenced to 2 years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent for China

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes smiles alongside Justice Andre Mendonca during a plenary session of the court in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) 2026-09-02T22:47:32Z WASHINGTON (AP) — An American journalist has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government within the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said. Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, pleaded guilty earlier this year and is not planning to appeal, according to his defense lawyer, Charles Burnham. Pauken also was sentenced to 36 months of supervised release with no overseas travel, the department said in a news release on Tuesday. He was arrested in February. The case is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions involving people accused of working for the Chinese government without proper disclosure, as tensions between Washington and Beijing remain high. “Pauken betrayed his country for money” for supporting “Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations, recruiting, and gathering of sensitive information from potential assets,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg in the news release. Pauken worked as a journalist for various Chinese news organizations after moving to China in 2010, including state broadcaster CCTV. He most recently worked as an editor for Xinhua, China’s state news agency, a position he had held since 2024. “Mr. Pauken has accepted responsibility and respects the court’s sentence,” his lawyer said, adding that “as the government agreed in court, Mr. Pauken did not provide any classified information to the Chinese.” According to court documents, from at least 2019 until February 2026, Pauken worked at the direction of people he knew worked for China’s government, including a person he met in 2017 identified as “Cathy.” “Cathy” told him the reports were read by Chinese President Xi Jinping , according to a Feb. 27 federal court affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Timothy J. Healy. (