Chinese Agents Receive 30-Month Prison Terms in US Military Spy Case
A US court has sentenced two Chinese citizens to 30 months in prison each after they admitted to acting as covert agents for Beijing and targeting American military personnel, the Justice Department has said.
Liren “Ryan” Lai, 40, and Yuanse Chen, 39, will also serve three years of supervised release. Both pleaded guilty to conspiring to work as agents of the Chinese government without telling the US Attorney General.
The department announced on Friday that the men were operating under the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security. Their alleged activities included covertly arranging cash payments, collecting information on military bases and personnel, and helping create intelligence sources within the US military.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said the two men were carrying out a long-term plot. “By supporting Chinese intelligence campaigns and recruiting people inside America, they sought to weaken US national security,” he said.
Lai pleaded guilty on December 12, 2025. Chen admitted his guilt on February 20.
According to court records cited by the department, the pair had been working as agents of Chinese intelligence since May 2021 or earlier. Lai recruited Chen and at first served as a link between him and Chinese intelligence officers. Chen later received assignments straight from those officers.
A sentencing memorandum outlines a secret payment of about $10,000 made in January 2022. While in China, the defendants arranged with associates in the United States for a backpack stuffed with money to be placed in a locker at an entertainment center in Livermore, California.
The department labelled this a “dead drop,” a setup that lets people exchange cash or information without ever meeting.
Beginning in 2022, Chen started gathering data on US military installations and personnel, following instructions from Lai and Chinese intelligence officers. He photographed Navy Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, and recorded images and video of recruits and active-duty sailors at a Navy recruiting center in southern California.
Authorities also said Chen obtained identifying information about a Navy employee and kept detailed biographical records on military members who could be viewed as intelligence targets.
In March 2023, Lai travelled to the United States and gave Chen a mobile phone for secret contact with the Chinese intelligence service. Chen then visited China in 2024 and 2025, meeting intelligence officers and receiving more tasks related to US service members.