US citizen pleads guilty to spying for People’s Republic of China – agent tasked with stealing information from DoJ to help launch cyberespionage campaign

American citizen Thomas Pauken pleads guilty to spying for China
Acted as a paid intermediary collecting sensitive US information
Faces up to 10 years in prison; The sentence is set for September 2026

A 50-year-old American citizen has pleaded guilty to spying for China and against the United States, and is now looking at a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years.

A notice published on the website of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) stated that Thomas Weir Pauken II conspired with several individuals and acted as an intermediary in data exfiltration.

Citing court documents, the DoJ said Pauken met in 2017 with an unidentified person known only as ‘Cathy’. This person gave Pauken hardware (laptops, phones), told him who to meet, what kind of information to gather and report back to her.

Selling data to the Chinese

Cathy paid Pauken at least $100,000 for his efforts and paid for several trips from China to the United States to meet with these individuals and obtain the necessary intelligence.

Pauken also said he worked with two more people, called ‘Richard’ and ‘William’, who told him the reports he was preparing were going to Japan. He believed they were also working for the Chinese government.

Pauken also apparently sold reports to a group of Chinese individuals from Wuhan, interested in information about technology and the DOJ. These individuals were also interested in finding an expert hacker for espionage campaigns.

“In fact, Pauken admitted to being part of a conspiracy to obtain sensitive information from the United States government to China,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.

“His actions are a betrayal of this nation and pose an unacceptable risk to our national security. NSD remains committed to protecting information critical to our national security, including through appropriate prosecution.”

Pauken’s sentence is scheduled for September 1, 2026, when he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

“By his own admission, Thomas Pauken not only attempted to infiltrate American political circles at the behest of China’s Ministry of State Security, but he gathered intelligence on his American targets and reported it back to his Chinese intelligence officers,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.

“This case illustrates the lengths to which the Chinese Communist Party will go to undermine our democratic institutions and diminish our political freedoms, but it also demonstrates the FBI’s determination to defend the homeland against threats to our national security. Let this plea serve as a clear warning: If you try to aid a foreign adversary as an unregistered agent in the United States, you will be found and the FBI will find you.”