FBI Arrests Two Chinese Men For Spying On The U.S. Navy

FBI arrested two Chinese men on charges of spying for China’s Intelligence Agency, including acting as recruiters and handlers for moles in the U.S Navy.

Yuance Chen, 38, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, have been accused of collecting intelligence about U.S Navy bases and servicemembers as well as aiding in the recruitment of other people in the U.S Ministry on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security.

Per charging documents, Lai recruited Chen to work for MSS in 2021, and they worked in Guangzhou, where they were a part of a plan to drop 10,000 dollars in cash at a site in Livermore, California, for an unknown recipient.

In 2022 and 2023, Chen, a U.S Permanent Resident, who is married to a U.S citizen, was tasked with visiting a Navy recruitment centre in San Gabriel, California.

He had to identify new Navy recruits and engage with future Navy sailors before they entered the U.S military service. He also sent pictures to Lai of navy bases and ships, including the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and videos of the recruiting station’s interior.

Lai also travelled to Houston in April and May 2025. Both were arrested on June 27, 2025, by the FBI in sting operations. They have been charged with acting as foreign agents without notifying the Justice Department. The penalty is a $250,000 fine and 10 years of imprisonment.

Omar Lopez, Director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), stated that China has for many years tried through several means to recruit U.S service personnel as intelligence assets due to their access to sensitive military data.

Source: Maritime Shipping News