New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been charged with bribery, campaign finance, and conspiracy offenses, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Adams is accused of using "his prominent positions in New York City government to obtain illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel" and accepting bribes from foreign nationals.
In February 2023, Federal Newswire reported that Adams received a $4,000 mayoral campaign donation from James Lu, President of the nonprofit America ChangLe Association. The America ChangLe Association operated an undercover, illegal Chinese police station in New York City.
The undercover police station was raided by FBI agents in the fall of 2022 and later shut down, Federal Newswire reported. “The FBI has confirmed that the ‘overseas police station’ in New York linked to Fuzhou has closed,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told the National Review.
Adams attended the America ChangLe Association's annual gala event in September 2021, although the event was not listed on his official schedule. A Chinese businessman posted photos on LinkedIn showing Adams on stage at the gala.
The police station was one of more than 100 similar operations that have faced increasing scrutiny around the world. Some Chinese state media outlets had described the outposts as “collecting intelligence” and working to solve crimes without coordinating with local law enforcement. Western officials believe the outposts enable the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to conduct surveillance on Chinese dissidents living abroad, which could be part of China's Operation Fox Hunt.
Chinese President Xi Jinping launched Operation Fox Hunt in 2014, utilizing a network of undercover CCP agents to stalk, intimidate, and ultimately repatriate Chinese people living abroad, including some who are U.S. citizens, according to a ProPublica report. The targets have supposedly committed financial crimes, but some are political dissidents or whistleblowers. The CCP operatives use coercive measures, such as threatening family members, to "persuade" the target to return to China. “They use pressure, leverage, threats against family, they use proxies,” said former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Bradley Benavides. “Certainly, they are good at getting what they want.” Through Operation Fox Hunt, CCP agents have reportedly caught more than 8,000 targets living abroad.
