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US Journalist Helping China Sentenced 09/03 06:45
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.
Pauken received at least $100,000 for his work with "Cathy," the department
said.
In addition to writing reports, Pauken was also asked by "Cathy" to recruit
people to provide classified information. In one case, Pauken was instructed to
meet with a person identified in the affidavit as "Person 1" and provide the
person a Samsung phone, a computer, and passwords for Signal and Telegram, as
well as NetDisk.
Pauken was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents when he returned
to the U.S. in January 2025. In interviews with CBP and FBI agents, Pauken said
he was "80 percent sure" that the person who was seeking a job in the Trump
administration would provide classified information to China, although Pauken
advised the person not to, according to the affidavit.
Pauken also told investigators that "Cathy" would usually pay for his trips
to the U.S. through the years, and often wired payments to his wife's bank
accounts, the affidavit said.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn't immediately respond on Wednesday
to a request seeking comment.
Pauken, a Texas native, used the alias of Tom McGregor when working as a
commentator and writer at the request of his father, who shares his name and
wanted to distance himself from his son's work in China.
The younger Pauken published two books under his real name, Thomas W. Pauken
II. One was published in 2019 about U.S.-China relations and another in 2023
about Shenzhen, a city across from Hong Kong in mainland China.
Pauken's father was a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the
1990s and ran for governor more than a decade ago.
In the most recent publicly visible Facebook post under McGregor's name,
Pauken shared photos of his wife and child on a trip, writing "My family and I
enjoying our trip to Washington DC." He was arrested later that month.
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