Williston Park Spy Pre-Trial Set For Oct. 13: U.S. Attorney's Office

MINEOLA — A pre-trial date was set Friday for Oct. 13 at 2:30 p.m. for an NYPD officer alleged to be a spy for the People’s Republic of China, said the United States Attorney's Office.

Baimadajie Angwang of Williston Park, a police officer of the 111th Precinct in Bayside and U.S. Army Reservist, was charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government, wire fraud, false statements and obstruction of an official proceeding, according to a Brooklyn federal court.

Angwang, an ethnic Taiwan native of the PRC, was arrested on Sept. 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Since 2014, the alleged spy, under the direction and control of officials at the PRC Consulate in New York City, reported on activities of Chinese citizens sympathetic to the Tibetan community in the Empire State and elsewhere, the DOJ added.

“State and local officials should be aware that they are not immune to the threat of Chinese espionage,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said in a statement in 2020. “According to the allegations, the Chinese government recruited and directed a U.S. citizen and member of our nation’s largest law enforcement department to further its intelligence gathering and repression of Chinese abroad.

One of the PRC Consular officials who Angwang was allegedly under the direction of worked for the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, a division of the PRC’s United Front Work Department, which is responsible for neutralizing opponents of the Chinese government and co-opting ethnic Chinese individuals living outside the PRC, according to a complaint.

“The defendant is charged with violating his sworn oath as a New York City police officer to protect and serve the citizens of New York by instead reporting to PRC government officials about the activities of Chinese citizens in the New York area and developing intelligence sources within the Tibetan community in the United States,” Acting United States Attorney Seth D. DuCharme said in a prepared statement in 2020. “Today’s arrest shows that no one – especially one sworn to uphold the law – is immune from prosecution for illegal acts on behalf of foreign governments.”

As an Army Reservist, Angwang also had “SECRET”-level security clearance, which he obtained by lying on a background check.

“As alleged in this federal complaint, Baimadajie Angwang violated every oath he took in this country. One to the United States, another to the U.S. Army, and a third to this Police Department,” former NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said in a 2020 statement. “From the earliest stages of this investigation, the NYPD’s Intelligence and Internal Affairs bureaus worked closely with the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division to make sure this individual would be brought to justice.”
If convicted, Angwang faces up to 55 years in prison, according to the DOJ.

His trial date and jury selection is set for Feb. 12, but in the event a earlier date becomes available, Angwang may be directed to have his trial as early as Oct. 19, according to United States District Judge Eric R. Komitee.