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After a week-long trial, Lu Jianwang (also known as Harry Lu), a U.S. citizen and resident of New York, was found guilty of acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Lu was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 951 with acting as an agent of a foreign government, conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, and obstruction of justice. On May 13, 2026, a federal jury in the Eastern District of New York found him guilty of acting as an unregistered foreign agent and obstruction of justice, but not guilty of conspiracy. Lu faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
Lu was arrested in April 2023, after being accused of opening and operating an unofficial police station in New York City on behalf of the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), China’s domestic law enforcement and intelligence agency. Between January and October 2022, Lu allegedly worked with co-defendant Chen Jinping to establish the station, which conducted administrative tasks but also, according to the charges, monitored and harassed members of the Chinese diaspora in NYC. Jinping pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent in December 2024 and awaits sentencing for this charge. Lu pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges he faced.
According to the indictment and as provided at the trial, Lu attended a ceremony in January 2022 in Fuzhou, China, at which the Chinese government launched an initiative with the goal of establishing overseas police stations. Lu and Chen Jinping then assisted in establishing such a station in NYC in February 2022. In March 2022, Lu received communications from MPS officials to confirm the location of dissident and pro-democracy advocate Xu Jie in California. At the trial, Jie appeared as a witness, testifying that he was targeted by Lu’s outpost. Jie had participated in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 before coming to the United States in 2018 and has, according to his testimony, been harassed repeatedly since his arrival. He traveled to New York to protest the overseas police station, sharing information publicly regarding its existence.
The FBI raided the unofficial police station in October 2022, discovering, among other items, a banner that read: “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station, New York, USA.” According to prosecutors in the case, Lu admitted to FBI agents that he opened the outpost and that he communicated via the encrypted messaging app “WeChat” with his Chinese counterparts. He had subsequently deleted these messages. Lu was thus accused, and subsequently found guilty, of knowingly concealing electronic messages to prevent them from being used as evidence in a federal grand jury investigation in the Eastern District of New York.
The covert police station shared offices with the America ChangLe Association, an organization in Manhattan’s Chinatown that Lu assisted in operating. Lu’s lawyers contend the outpost was actually a community center where people could meet to play ping pong and renew their Chinese driver’s licenses remotely without having to return to China during the pandemic. The organization described itself on tax forms as a “social gathering place for Fujianese people,” according to public reports.
18 U.S.C. § 951 requires agents operating under the control of foreign governments or foreign officials to notify the Attorney General before acting in such a capacity. Registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) serves as the required notification under § 951. Lu’s charges and federal trial reflect the DOJ’s ongoing commitment to combating unlawful covert activities by foreign entities through both 18 U.S.C. § 951 and FARA.
The legal landscape of FARA and related statutes is evolving. Buchanan’s team of National Security attorneys has extensive experience advising on FARA and is well-prepared to provide counsel on the complex and changing issues surrounding its enforcement. Our eBook, Navigating the Law: Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Handbook, provides further guidance on FARA, including details on the reporting and registration processes, potential non-compliance penalties associated with FARA violations, DOJ public advisory opinions, and recent enforcement developments.
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