Ex New York police sergeant sentenced to 1-1/2 years in prison for acting as Chinese agent

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former New York City police sergeant was sentenced to 1-1/2 years in prison on Wednesday over his 2023 conviction for acting as an illegal Chinese agent.

Michael McMahon was charged with being hired as a private investigator to surveil a New Jersey resident who was accused by China of corruption, as part of a global campaign by Chinese law enforcement to repatriate alleged criminals living abroad, known as "Operation Fox Hunt." 

A federal jury in Brooklyn found McMahon guilty of interstate stalking and of acting as an agent of China without notifying the U.S. attorney general. The jury found him not guilty of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. McMahon had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

McMahon was convicted amid a broader push by Democratic President Joe Biden's administration to crack down on what it termed transnational repression, or the intimidation and harassment by authoritarian U.S. adversaries such as China or Iran of dissidents on U.S. soil.

Republican President Donald Trump's administration, however, has signaled it will scale down criminal enforcement of U.S. foreign influence laws.

During her first day on the job in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi said prosecutors would bring criminal cases only when conduct resembles "more traditional espionage," focusing on civil enforcement instead in other scenarios.

McMahon has secured the support of two Republican U.S. Representatives, Michael Lawler of New York and Pete Sessions of Texas. Last year, the two congressmen wrote U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen a letter urging her to spare McMahon prison time, citing his service as a police officer and dedication to his family. 

Two of McMahon's co-defendants, Yong Zhu and Congying Zheng, were sentenced to two years and 1-1/3 years in prison, respectively. 

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)