China targeted U.S. Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu and her father in a spy operation that entailed surveillance and efforts to procure personal information, the Justice Department alleges.
Her father, Arthur Liu, helped organize pro-democracy demonstrations during his youth in China following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and was one of multiple dissidents the Justice Department claims were targeted in a scheme initiated by the Chinese government.
“They are probably just trying to intimidate us, to … in a way threaten us not to say anything, to cause trouble to them and say anything political or related to human rights violations in China,” he told the Associated Press. “I had concerns about her safety. The U.S. government did a good job protecting her.”
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The Justice Department also charged Fan Liu, 62, Quiang Sun, 40, Qiming Lin, 59, and Shujun Wang, 73, variously with stalking, harassing, and spying on U.S. residents on behalf of the Chinese government. The charges were brought forth in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York.
The Lius were targeted by Matthew Ziburis, 49, who posed as an official at the international sports committee and contacted Arthur Liu seeking the numbers on his and Alysa Liu’s passports, per the charges. Arthur Liu confirmed he is “Dissident 3” in the complaint.
Ziburis called Liu on his work phone and claimed he needed the information as a travel check to ensure the passport did not expire, but the Olympian’s father insisted that he would call the committee directly, according to prosecutors. Ziburis warned Liu that a failure to turn over the information could result in delayed or denied approval for international travel.
“I didn’t feel good about it. I felt something fishy was going on,” Liu told the Associated Press. “From my dealings with the U.S. Figure Skating association, they would never call me on the phone to get copies of our passports. I really cut it short once I realized what he was asking for.”
Authorities believe Ziburis also conducted surveillance near the Lius’ residence and his place of work. He was arrested Tuesday and released on a $500,000 bond, per the outlet. He has been charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Chinese government and conspiring to commit interstate harassment and criminal use of a means of identification.
Liu said he believes his daughter was targeted when she was in China for the Olympics last month. Alysa Liu, 16, told him that after the free skate event, she was followed by a stranger who asked her to go to his apartment.
Another apparent victim of the operation is Xiong Yan, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York, according to NBC. Yan was not identified in court documents but matches the profile of a person referred to as “the Victim” in a Justice Department press release. He participated in protests following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and subsequently became a U.S. citizen. Lin hired a private investigator in an attempt to disrupt Yan’s bid for Congress, according to the Justice Department.
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Liu finished in seventh place in women’s single skating during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
If convicted, the defendants face maximum sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years in prison.
