A former U.S. Navy sailor convicted of selling ship technical and operational manuals and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to more than 16 years in prison, prosecutors said.
A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Jinzhao Wei, 25, to 200 months in prison. A federal jury convicted Wei in August of six crimes, including espionage. The US Department of Justice said in a statement that he received more than $12,000 for the information he sold.
Wei, engineer of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, was one of them Two sailors residing in California He was charged on August 3, 2023 with providing sensitive military information to China. The other one is Wenheng Zhao He was sentenced to more than two years In 2024 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties.
U.S. officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, and have filed criminal cases in recent years against intelligence agents in Beijing who have stolen sensitive government and business information, including through illegal hacking.
Wei was recruited via social media in 2022 by an intelligence officer who portrayed himself as a Navy enthusiast working for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, prosecutors said.
Evidence presented to the court showed Wee told a friend that the person was “very suspicious” and that it was “quite obviously” espionage. Prosecutors said Wei ignored the friend’s advice to delete the contact, instead moving conversations with the intelligence officer to a different encrypted messaging app that Wei believed was more secure.
Over the course of 18 months, Wei sent the officer photos and videos of the Essex, informed him of the location of several Navy vessels and told him about the Essex’s defensive weapons, prosecutors said.
Wei sold the intelligence officer 60 technical and operational manuals, including those for controlling weapons, aircraft, and deck elevators. The manuals contain export control warnings and detail the operations of multiple systems aboard the Essex and similar vessels.
He was a petty officer second class, an enlisted sailor’s rank.
the The Navy website says The Essex is equipped to transport and support a Marine Corps landing force of more than 2,000 soldiers during an air and amphibious assault.
In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Wei apologized and said he should not have shared anything with the person he considered a friend. Wei said “introversion and loneliness” clouded his judgment.