US Navy Officer Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison Over Scheme to Ship Military Boats to China

The seal of the United States Department of Justice is seen on the building exterior of the United States Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan on Aug. 17, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A U.S. Navy officer has been sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in purchasing handguns for the owner of a Chinese defense firm and for hiding the relationship, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).

Yang Fan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was convicted by a federal jury in November 2021 and sentenced on March 16.

Yang was trained in anti-submarine warfare and had previously worked in a patrol aircraft and as a tactics instructor at a Navy facility in Florida, according to the DOJ. He held a top-secret security clearance and was serving on active duty at the time of his crimes.

“Fan Yang held a position of trust with the U.S. government working on anti-submarine warfare,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said in a March 16 statement. “Today, the court held him accountable for violating that trust by lying to the government about significant foreign relationships.”

According to the DOJ, Yang formed an online relationship with Chinese citizen Ge Songtao prior to becoming a naval officer.

However, photographic evidence presented during the trial shows that the two met in person in 2013, while Yang was in Navy flight training. Then in 2016, while Yang was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, he recommended that Ge hire Yang’s wife as an employee.

Ge hired Yang’s wife to work at his company, Shanghai Breeze Technology, headquartered in Shanghai.

That company exported maritime equipment from the United States to China. In 2021, both Ge and Yang’s wife were sentenced for using the company in an attempt to illegally import U.S. military raiding boats to China.

Yang’s wife allegedly received more than $300,000 in payments from Shanghai Breeze, its creditors, and Ge’s executive assistant and co-defendant, Zheng Yan.

The money was used to pay her salary, business expenses in the United States, and for goods that Ge ordered Yang and his wife to purchase. The funds were frequently routed through the Yangs’ family business, according to prosecutors.

Yang purchased two 9 millimeter handguns for Ge at his request and was reimbursed for both purchases, according to the DOJ. Each time he purchased a firearm, Yang filed a Firearms Transactions Record on which he falsely claimed to be purchasing the firearm for himself. He was sentenced for these transactions.

Prosecutors say Yang also hid from the Navy his and his family’s relationship with Ge.

During one incident in 2018, Yang allegedly asked for time off from his Navy chain of command and claimed that he and his wife were going to Disney World. In reality, they traveled to Nebraska for an in-person meeting with Ge, according to the DOJ.

Yang also lied about his relationship with Ge in a questionnaire, failed to disclose the extent of his contacts with Ge, hid a bank account that he maintained in China, and hid the fact that he had an expired Chinese passport, according to prosecutors.

“Lt. Fan Yang swore an oath to protect this country, but instead he posed a significant risk to U.S. national security when he failed to report his contact with the head of a Chinese Defense Contracting firm,” Special Agent in Charge Sherri E. Onks of the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office said in the statement.