US wants to drop the charges against NYPD officer who spied on China
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are dropping charges against a New York City police officer and military veteran who was accused of helping the Chinese government keep tabs on Tibetans in the United States, a case that U.S. authorities once publicized as an “insider threat.”
After federal prosecutors said to a judge that they wanted to dismiss the case, a Brooklyn court date has been set for Thursday. their case against Baimadajie Angwang.
“As a result of our continued investigation, the government obtained additional information bearing on the charges,” prosecutors from the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office and the Department of Justice headquarters said in a court filing Friday. The prosecutors said they “assessed the evidence as a whole in light of that information” and concluded they wanted to drop the case “in the interests of justice.”
Monday was not a productive day for the Brooklyn U.S. Department of Attorney’s Office. Angwang’s attorney was notified. He claimed that his client had only tried to obtain a visa to visit relatives by buttering up New York consulate officials from China.
Also, a message was sent to China’s consulate. Beijing has called the case “pure fabrication” meant to denigrate its diplomats in the United States.
Prosecutors never claimed that Angwang had compromised New York Police Department operations or national security. Still, when authorities unveiled the case in 2020, the head of the FBI’s New York office termed Angwang “the definition of an insider threat.”
He was charged with offences including acting as an agent for a foreign government without proper notification.
Angwang is an ethnic Tibetan and sought asylum in America as a young man. He claimed that he was beaten and imprisoned by Chinese authorities for his Tibetan heritage.
China claims Tibet is part of its territory from the mid-13th Century. China’s Communist Party has governed Tibet since 1951. However, many Tibetans believe that they were independent throughout most of their history. Beijing is seeking to exploit their rich resource-rich region and destroy their cultural identity.
After obtaining asylum, Angwang was made a Marine, and his contract to serve as a Marine in Afghanistan from July 2013 through February 2014 was extended before he was honorably discharged. John Carman, Angwang’s lawyer, wrote in court papers. Angwang went on to join the Army Reserve and the NYPD, earning a “Cop of the Month” award in his Queens precinct in September 2018, according to the court filing.
He kept in touch with some officials from the Chinese Consulate while he was away.
U.S. authorities, at least initially, characterized him as an intelligence “asset” reporting on the activities of ethnic Tibetans in New York and offering Chinese consular officials an in with the NYPD.
In a November 2018 conversation with one of the diplomats, Angwang enthused about the official’s career prospects and urged the diplomat to “let them know you have recruited one in the police department,” according to a court complaint. Angwang later invited the diplomat to an NYPD Asian American officers’ group banquet, saying it would mean “you have extended your reach into the police department.”
At other points, Angwang proposed that the two visit a Tibetan community center in Queens; suggested that the consular official develop connections with certain local Tibetan groups and a political aspirant of Tibetan descent; and warned that some Tibetan American political staffers might promote anti-Chinese messages, according to the complaint, which doesn’t name either of the Chinese officials.
Angwang’s attorney countered that these conversations weren’t espionage — just “obsequious and deferential posturing” toward visa gatekeepers.
“This behavior was nothing more than what is typical of any person confronted with the dictatorial power of a low-level bureaucrat,” Carman wrote in a February 2022 court filing. “The simple fact is that Mr. Angwang did virtually nothing to help the Chinese consulate officials.”
He said that Angwang didn’t offer military or police secrets or “any information that could reasonably be described as ‘intelligence,’” and that the invitations he extended were hardly exclusive. The Tibetan community center was widely publicized and the banquet draws more than 1,600 people, including high-ranking Chinese diplomats.
According to the attorney, Angwang did not receive a visa from officials.
According to the NYPD, he is currently being suspended with pay. The Army Reserve didn’t have any information on his current status.