Two foreign nationals are facing federal charges for allegedly hiring people to harass and threaten a Los Angeles-based artist who criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
Cui Guanghai, 43, of China, and John Miller, 63, of the United Kingdom and a U.S. permanent resident, were indicted by federal grand juries in LA and Milwaukee, on charges of interstate stalking, conspiracy and smuggling and violations of the Arms Export Control Act, according to the DOJ.
Prosecutors argue that the campaign against the LA resident, whose name was not disclosed, began in October 2023 when Cui and Miller enlisted two people in the United States to stop the alleged victim from protesting Xi’s appearance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco that November.
Previously, the unnamed victim had publicly expressed opposition to the policies and actions of Xi and the People’s Republic of China, according to federal authorities.
In the weeks leading up to the APEC summit, the defendants allegedly hired two people to stalk the victim, install a tracking device on his car and slash the tires.
The individuals also allegedly tried to buy and destroy a pair of statues created by the victim. The statues depict the president and his wife Peng Liyuan bare-chested and kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs, according to the Los Angeles indictment. The statues were displayed on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square in 2023.
Court papers also report a similar scheme allegedly took place in recent months, after the victim planned to make public an online video feed showing two new statues of Xi and his wife.
Cui and Miller, however, were unaware that the two people they had enlisted were FBI operatives, according to the DOJ’s statement.
Federal prosecutors allege the suspects paid two other people nearly $36,500 to convince the victim not to display the statues. Officials said those two people were also working with the FBI.
“As alleged, the defendants targeted a U.S. resident for exercising his constitutional right to free speech and conspired to traffic sensitive American military technology to the Chinese regime,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
“This is a blatant assault on both our national security and our democratic values,” he said. “This Justice Department will not tolerate foreign repression on U.S. soil, nor will we allow hostile nations to infiltrate or exploit our defense systems. We will act decisively to expose and dismantle these threats wherever they emerge.”
According to the Wisconsin indictment, Miller and Cui allegedly tried to procure U.S. defense items, including missiles, air defense radar, drones, and cryptographic devices for unlawful export from the United States to China from two individuals.
The defendants allegedly discussed with the two others a range of methods to export a cryptographic device from the U.S. to China, including concealing the device in a blender, small electronics or motor starter, then shipping the device initially to Hong Kong, federal prosecutors said.
Cui and Miller allegedly paid nearly $10,000 as a deposit for the cryptographic device via a courier in the U.S. and a wire transfer to a U.S. bank account, court papers state.
If convicted, Cui and Miller face up to five years in prison for conspiracy, up to five years for interstate stalking, up to 20 years for violation of the Arms Export Control Act and as many as 10 years for smuggling, prosecutors said.
The defendants are currently in custody in Serbia pending extraditions.
