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Speaker 1: Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and

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death spy stories and the amazing devices and operations that

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made them possible. Now let's get started.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes you just don't know who you're working for. A

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former New York Police sergeant was sentenced to eighteen months

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in prison in a US case about China's pursuit of

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critics abroad. Michael McMahon was convicted in twenty twenty three

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of contributing to a transcontinental pressure campaign aimed at getting

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a former Chinese official to leave the US and returned

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to his home land. The tactics range from Facebook messages

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to a threatening real world note on the man's door.

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During an hour's long sentence, McMahon said he was unwittingly

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used by Chinese operators when he took what he thought

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was a routine PI job. I never thought for one

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minute I was working for China. Yet now I've lost everything.

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This is such a nightmare. He was among ten people

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charged in the federal case, which spurred the first trial

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stemming from US claims about China's decady Operation fox Hunt initiative.

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Beijing says it's about bringing corrupt officials and other criminal

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fugitives to justice Washington deems at an exercise and threatening

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and harassing dissidents across borders. US District Judge Pamela Chen

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said McMahon aided a campaign of transnational repression that harmed

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the targeted man. Zuo, a former official in the city

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of Wuhan, left China in twenty ten. Authorities there have

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accused Zo and his wife of bribery, which they deny.

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His wife's testified that he was unjustly targeted for rankling

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the Chinese power structure. China doesn't have an extradition treaty

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with the US, so China couldn't legally force Zu to return,

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but he was repeatedly and insidiously pressed to return. At

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one point, his octagenarian father was abruptly flown in from

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China to press him to go back. Later, a threatening

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no was taped to his door, telling him to go

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to prison in China to ensure his families well be

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The Brooklyn based you As attorney said in a statement

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that the ex officer Win Rogan dishonorably engage in his

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scheme at the direction of the People's Republic of China,

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so McMahon shook his head in the charges against him.

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But what we're gonna do now is actually look at

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Operation fox Hunt and see what this was all about.

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Because whether or not he really knew or didn't know,

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I'm assuming he probably knew. It's gonna be kind of

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hard to believe he didn't know what he was up to.

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But maybe he really didn't. It doesn't matter anymore, as

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we know, the law doesn't care about ignorance in that sense.

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Operation fox Hun is a COVID global operation launched by

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the Chinese Guy in June twourds in twenty fourteen, officially

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aimed at combating corruption by targeting Chinese nationals abroad suspected

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of economic crimes, bribery and embezzlement, but as part of

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Chinese Communist Party Broader anti corruption campaign, and works alongside

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what they call Operation Skynet, which focuses on restricting financial

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flows and recovering illicit assets. Fox Hunt has reportedly led

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to the repatriation of over nine thousand people in over

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one hundred and twenty countries, recovering almost seven billion in assets.

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Notable successes include the twenty fifteen extradition of a woman

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named Zang from Italy, marking Europe's first such extradition of

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China for financial crimes and the repatriation of seven hundred

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people in a six month period. However, the operation is

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highly controversial, including US officials and human rights groups argues

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that serves as a tool for political repression and targeting dissidents.

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Tactics have allegedly included harassment, stocking, kidnapping, and coercion. For example,

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the FBI director Christopher Ray cited cases where targets were

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told to return to China commit suicide, with family members

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arrested for leverage. The US has accused China conducting these

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operations illegally on forward soil, violating sovereignty and international norms.

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In October twenty twenty, the FBI arres did five individuals

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and charged three others for acting as the illegal agents

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of China in a fox Hunt related case involving intimidation

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of a New Jersey resident. In twenty twenty three, three men,

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including an American PI, were convicted in the US trial

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for stalking and acting as illegal agents to pressure former

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Chinese official to return. Fox Hunt through police agreements with

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others like France, have raised concerns from unnotified bring paid creations.

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China defends, of course fox and is a legitimate anti

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corruption effort, denying accusations of transnational repression. However, evidence from

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US court cases and reports by groups like Safeguard Defenders

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highlight its extra legal methods, including the use of clandestine visits,

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honey tramps, and malware to target YEP to track the targets.

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The term fox hunt also appears in an unrelated context,

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like a twenty twenty five Chinese action film, So there's

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your fun part fox Hunt. Just in case you look

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it up. There is a movie, So we don't want

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you to get confused, but it's not about that. Hopefully

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that'll be it for now. We'll talk to you so