Two Chinese intelligence officers are facing criminal charges in the US for allegedly attempting to steal court documents and bribing an FBI agent with Bitcoin (BTC).
According to a new statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Guochun He and Zheng Wang tried to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation involving a Chinese telecommunications company by plotting to obtain court documents and information.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the company involved is telecommunications giant Huawei.
The defendants, who are still at large, allegedly paid a US government official about $61,000 worth of Bitcoin as reward for handing them a purported document from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to the probe.
He and Wang thought that the official was working as an asset for the Chinese government, but turned out to be a double agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Says Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco,
“The cases unsealed today take place against a backdrop of malign activity from the People’s Republic of China that includes espionage, harassment, obstruction of our justice system, and unceasing efforts to steal sensitive U.S. technology.”
The bribery scheme is yet another form of illicit activity that has used Bitcoin as of late. Earlier this month, a man was convicted of running an unlicensed BTC transmitting business.
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