U.S. journalist sentenced to 2 years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent for China

WASHINGTON — 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…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business