Thaindian News

SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) – An aerospace engineer was sentenced on Monday to 188 months (nearly 16 years) in federal prison on charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of China for more than three decades while working for Rockwell International and Boeing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office informed.

Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 73, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Orange, California was employed at Rockwell from 1973 until its acquisition by Boeing in 1996. He stole restricted technology and trade secrets, related to the Space Shuttle and the Delta IV rocket, for the Chinese government from 1973 to 2006.

Chung, a native from China, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, six counts of economic espionage to benefit a foreign country, one count of acting as agent of the People’s Republic of China and one count of making false statements to FBI’s agents.

“Mr. Chung betrayed his adopted country and endangered our national security,” said U. S. Attorney George Cardona.

Mr. Chung held a security clearance while working for Rockwell and Boeing on the Space Shuttle program. During the trial evidence proved that Chung received Chinese tasks since 1979. Such letters told him to collect specific information about military and civilian aircraft.

On May 2, 1986, Chung received a letter from an official in the Ministry of Aviation and China Aviation Industry that stated “It is your honor and China’s fortune that you are able to realize your wish of dedicating yourself to the service of your country.”

“I would like to make an effort to contribute to the Four Modernizations of China,” Chung wrote on an undated letter.

On September 11, 2006, FBI and NASA agents searched Chung’s California house and found more than 250,000 pages of secret documents from Rockwell and Boeing.

His arrest was a result of the investigation on Chi Mak, another engineer who also worked in the U.S. and passed on military information to China. In 2008, Mak was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison.