US court keeping accused Chinese spy jailed over use of alias ahead of pretrial hearings
- The defendant ‘provided a background that is in contrast to the indictment’, the US magistrate judge said
- Xu Yanjun is accused of seeking ‘to steal trade secrets from a US company that leads the way in aerospace’
A US federal court is keeping an alleged Chinese spy in jail ahead of pretrial hearings because the defendant is sticking to what federal prosecutors say is a false alias.
US Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman of the district of Southern Ohio said the defendant, Xu Yanjun, “provided a background that is in contrast to the indictment”, according to court documents made public this week. Other reasons Bowman decided Xu is a flight risk include his lack of a residence or “significant community or family ties” in the US.
Xu, who also uses the names Qu Hui and Zhang Hui, was extradited to the US with help from Belgian authorities for seeking “to steal trade secrets and other sensitive information from an American company that leads the way in aerospace”, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said in a Justice Department announcement last week.
The formal complaint alleges that Xu is a senior officer with China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and has represented himself as an associate of Jiangsu Science & Technology Promotion Association to obtain trade secrets from US companies including GE Aviation, according to court documents.
Other court documents in the case say Xu has passed himself off as an employee of Nanjing Science and Technology Association.