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A Long Island millionaire was sentenced to two years in prison for spying for China – and pushing a dissident to return to the country to face the communist regime’s wrath.
Quanzhong An, a 58-year-old from Roslyn Heights, will do 20 months after he pleaded guilty to charges that he pushed a resident and his family to go back to China, where they would “face an unknown fate,” FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Leslie R. Backschies said in a statement.
An, who owns a hotel in Flushing, Queens, was involved in “Operation Fox Hunt” — a larger international espionage effort to bring Chinese natives back to the Asian country, the Eastern District US Attorney’s office said
An — who pleaded guilty in 2024 — allegedly tried leveraging the unidentified resident’s son on multiple occasions, showing up at his home unannounced to try to learn his father’s whereabouts.
An later sent his daughter and two Chinese officials to do the same. As the harassment continued over several meetings, An threatened the son that the Chinese government would “make [his] daily life uncomfortable” until his father returned.
The menacing spy was also caught committing both bank fraud and a money laundering scheme by moving millions of dollars from China to the US under false pretenses, law enforcement officials stated.
An was ordered to pay a penalty of nearly $5 million at his sentencing on Wednesday. Of that, $1.3 million would go to the victim and his family.
An has net worth of $44 million, according to Newsday.
“I didn’t mean to cause them any pain,” An said of the victims through a Mandarin translator in court.
“I’m seeking your leniency … I will use my sentence for motivation to continued self-growth and to positively influence all those around me.”
He agreed to join “Operation Fox Hunt” to “elevate his status within the [Chinese] government as a means of furthering his own economic interests,” according to the Eastern District.
