Advertisement

Ex-New York police sergeant sentenced to 1.5 years for acting as Chinese agent

Michael McMahon was convicted of stalking a US resident as part of the Beijing-backed ‘Operation Fox Hunt’

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
Michael McMahon, a retired New  York police sergeant working as a private investigator, arrives for the start of his trial in New York in May 2023. Photo: Reuters
A former New York police sergeant was sentenced to 1½ years in prison on Wednesday over his 2023 conviction for acting as an illegal Chinese agent.

Michael McMahon was charged with being hired as a private investigator to surveil a New Jersey resident who was accused by China of corruption, as part of a global campaign by Chinese law enforcement to repatriate alleged criminals living abroad, known as “Operation Fox Hunt”.

A federal jury in Brooklyn found McMahon guilty of interstate stalking and of acting as an agent of China without notifying the US attorney general. The jury found him not guilty of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. McMahon had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

“McMahon, a former law enforcement officer who swore an oath to protect the public, went rogue and dishonourably engaged in a scheme at the direction of the People’s Republic of China,” John Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said in a statement.

McMahon said he thought he was working for a company seeking to recover embezzled funds, and would not have taken the job if he knew the Chinese government was behind it.

“I was unwittingly used,” he said in court.

Advertisement