Suspected Chinese spy allowed to bring former US government official onto legal team
- A former US national security prosecutor will be a lawyer for Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence officer extradited to the United States to stand trial
- Xu has been charged with attempting to steal trade secrets from GE Aviation and other American aerospace companies
Lawyers for a Chinese intelligence official charged with trying to steal trade secrets from GE Aviation and other American aerospace companies have succeeded in bringing a former US Justice Department official onto his defence team.
Xu Yanjun, a senior officer with China’s Ministry of State Security, was extradited to the US on October 9 on espionage charges. His legal team will now include Robert McBride, a former national security prosecutor and now a partner in the northern Kentucky office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, according to federal court documents.
It is not known who has engaged the law firm on Xu’s behalf.
Judge Timothy Black of the Southern District of Ohio approved a request by one of Xu’s lawyers, Ralph Kohnen, to allow McBride to join the team even though McBride is not registered to practice law in Ohio.
Before going into private practice, McBride was with the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky for 16 years, where he served as an anti-terrorism counsel coordinator and oversaw all criminal prosecutions in the district, according to Taft Stettinius.