U.S. drops charges of veteran NYPD officer spying on Tibetans for China

Prosecutors are dropping charges against an NYPD officer and military veteran who was accused of helping the Chinese government spy on Tibetans in the United States – a case that US authorities once covered as an “insider threat.”

A trial date has been set for Thursday in Brooklyn after federal prosecutors told the judge they want to dismiss the case against Baimadaji Angwan.

“As a result of our ongoing investigation, the government has received additional information relevant to the allegations,” prosecutors from the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office and Justice Department headquarters said in a court hearing on Friday. Prosecutors said they “evaluated the evidence as a whole in light of this information” and concluded they wanted to dismiss the case “in the interests of fairness.”

On Monday, the Brooklyn prosecutor’s office declined to provide details. The message was sent to Angwan’s lawyer, who alleged in court documents that his client was only currying favor with the Chinese consulate in New York in the hope of obtaining a visa to visit his relatives.

The message was also sent to the Chinese consulate. Beijing called the case “pure fiction” aimed at smearing its diplomats in the United States.

Prosecutors have never alleged that Angwan endangered national security or the operations of the New York City Police Department. However, when authorities released the case in 2020, the head of the FBI’s New York office called Angwan “the definition of an insider threat.”

He was charged with offenses including acting as an agent of a foreign government without proper notice.

Ethnic Tibetan Angwan asked for asylum in the United States as a youth, saying he was arrested and beaten by Chinese authorities because of his ethnicity.

China claims that Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and the ruling Chinese Communist Party has ruled the Himalayan region since 1951. exploit their resource-rich region while destroying their cultural identity.

After receiving asylum, Angwang became a Marine and extended his contract to serve in Afghanistan from July 2013 to February 2014 before being honorably discharged, attorney John Karman wrote in court documents. Angwan joined the Army Reserve and the NYPD, receiving the Cop of the Month award from his Queens station in September 2018, according to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, he was in close contact with a couple of Chinese consular officials.

US authorities, at least initially, described him as an intelligence “asset” reporting on ethnic Tibetan activities in New York and offering Chinese consular officials a link to the NYPD.

According to the court complaint, in a conversation with one of the diplomats in November 2018, Angwang expressed enthusiasm for the official’s career prospects and urged the diplomat to “tell them that you recruited one of the police officers.” Angwan later invited the diplomat to a banquet for a group of Asian-American NYPD officers, stating that it would mean “you have extended your influence to the police department.”

On other occasions, Angwang invited them to visit a Tibetan community center in Queens; invited the consular officer to establish contacts with some local Tibetan groups and a political pretender of Tibetan origin; and warned that some Tibetan-American politicians may be spreading anti-Chinese messages, according to the complaint, which does not name any Chinese officials.

Angwang’s lawyer countered that these conversations were not espionage – just “obsequious and respectful behavior” towards visa gatekeepers.

“This behavior was nothing short of typical of anyone facing the dictatorial power of a low-level bureaucrat,” Karman wrote in a February 2022 lawsuit. “Just the fact that Mr. Angwan did little to nothing to help Chinese consular officials.”

He said that Angwang did not disclose military or police secrets or “any information that could reasonably be described as ‘intelligence'” and that the invitations he made were hardly exceptional. According to the lawyer, the center of the Tibetan community has received wide publicity, and the banquet regularly attracts more than 1,600 people, including high-ranking Chinese diplomats.

However, the International Campaign for Tibet, a US-based advocacy group, said that the pending ending of the Angwan case “does not mean that the Chinese government is not taking action to monitor Tibetans in the diaspora.”

According to the lawyer, Angwan never received a visa from officials.

He is currently suspended from the NYPD with pay. Information about his status in the army reserve was not immediately available.