A federal jury on Monday convicted a former Chicago graduate student of spying for the Chinese government by gathering information on scientists and engineers in the U.S. with valuable knowledge about aerospace technology, artificial intelligence, and even aircraft carriers.
After a two week trial, the jury convicted Ji Chaoqun, 31, of conspiracy to act as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security without notifying the U.S. Attorney General, acting as a spy in the U.S., and lying on a government form about his contacts with foreign agencies.
The jury, which deliberated about six hours over two days, acquitted Ji of two other wire fraud counts alleging he lied to the U.S. Army when he applied to become a reservist in 2016.
