NYPD Officer Arrested for Allegedly Spying for China
On September 21, federal prosecutors said that a New York City police officer and U.S. Army Reserve member has been arrested on federal charges of acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese regime.
According to a criminal complaint, Baimadajie Angwang, a 33-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in China’s Tibet region, fed intelligence about other ethnic Tibetans in New York to the Chinese Consulate in the city.
Angwang was charged with acting as an agent for China, committing wire fraud, making false statements, and obstructing an official proceeding. He faces up to 55 years imprisonment if convicted of all charges.
Prosecutors also alleged that he helped Chinese consulate officials gain access to senior NYPD officials.
According to the complaint, Angwang also works as a civil affairs specialist in the Army Reserve, holding the rank of staff sergeant and is stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. His work involves planning, training, and executing civil-military programs, the document said. He holds a “secret” level security clearance in connection with this role.
Multinational Banks Suspected of Laundering $2 Trillion
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, with more than 160 journalists around the world, reported on Sept. 20 that large multinational banks such as HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon, etc., were suspected of assisting criminals, laundering money, and transferring funds up to $2 trillion dollars. Shares in the world’s largest banks plummeted and regulators demanded reform hours after the release of the latest investigation. HSBC and Standard Chartered shares touched their lowest level in as much as 25 years, Reuters reported.
A number of international journalists conducted investigations based on more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports filed by banks. ICIJ analysis found documents identifying more than $2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 that were flagged by financial institutions’ internal compliance officers as possible money laundering or other criminal activity — including $514 billion at JPMorgan and $1.3 trillion at Deutsche Bank.
JPMorgan, the largest bank based in the United States, moved money for people and companies tied to the massive looting of public funds in Malaysia, Venezuela, and Ukraine, the leaked documents reveal. HSBC continued to move money for questionable characters, including suspected Russian money launderers and a Ponzi scheme under investigation in multiple countries. Deutsche Bank was suspected of laundering money for Ukrainian billionaires.
Pompeo: Ensure Americans’ TikTok Data Is Not Passed to the CCP
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday morning that if U.S. companies or investors do not have complete control over TikTok, the transaction will not be approved.
On Sept. 19, President Trump approved in principle a deal under which Oracle and Walmart would receive ownership stakes in Chinese-owned app TikTok. Secretary of State Pompeo said in an interview on Sept. 20 that the only principle of the U.S. government is to ensure that Americans’ data does not fall into the hands of the CCP.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo, the host of Fox News Sunday Morning Feature on Sept. 21, Pompeo said that Europe has changed its perception toward China and that the CCP threatens Western values in aspects such as faith and trade. He also stated that Europe will join forces with the United States to fight against the CCP.
China Reports All New Coronavirus Cases as ‘Imported’
So far, China has not punished a single official for concealing or underreporting the CCP virus outbreak. However, in the past four months, if there was a resurgence of the virus in a certain place, local officials were likely fired. This happened to the deputy head of Fengtai District when Beijing had a new outbreak linked to Xinfadi market in June, and a grassroots official in Wuhan when six new cases emerged in a residential complex in May.
As a result, officials in all provinces and cities only report “imported cases” so as to protect their official posts. That is, in their daily reports, all the new cases are imported from foreign countries, and 99 percent of Chinese cities claim to have maintained a record of “zero” new domestic cases for months.
These confusing messages led to heated discussions on the Internet. Some people warned others that the governor’s wording of “wartime state” is meant to tell everyone the outbreak is very serious; while many others who plan to go sightseeing in Yunnan in October are reluctant to give up their travel plan. They tried to convince themselves that Yunnan is still safe by quoting the official figures— “two cases only, under control in hospital.”
U.S. Under Secretary of State Concluded Historic Visit to Taiwan
U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach has concluded his visit to Taiwan. Krach is the highest-ranking U.S. State Department official to visit Taiwan in 41 years after the two severed diplomatic ties. During the visit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s military planes invaded Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, signaling a strong provocation. Tsai Ing-wen said the move did not help China’s international image and let the people of Taiwan know more about the nature of the regime. She called on the CCP to adopt self-restraint and refrain from provocation.
