Two 
nationals — Yuance Chen and Liren “Ryan” Lai — made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, on June 30 to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government without prior notification to the Attorney General. Chen, a legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Lai, who traveled from China to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested on June 27 on a criminal complaint charging them with overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence taskings in the US on behalf of Ministry of State Security (MSS). These activities included facilitating a “dead drop” payment of cash for information relating to the national security of the US previously provided to the MSS, gathering intelligence about US Navy service members and bases, and assisting with efforts to recruit other individuals from within the US military as potential MSS assets.
Chen and Lai were arrested by the FBI in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, respectively, as part of a coordinated counterintelligence and law enforcement operation across multiple states.
Lai recruited Chen to work on behalf of MSS in or about 2021. While in Guangzhou, China, in Jan 2022, Lai and Chen worked together to facilitate a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 on behalf of MSS, working with other individuals located in the US to leave a backpack with the cash at a day-use locker at a recreational facility located in Livermore, California.
Following the Jan 2022 dead drop, Lai and Chen continued to work on behalf of MSS, including by attempting to help identify potential assets for MSS recruitment within the ranks of the US Navy. For example, in 2022 and 2023, Chen was tasked by Lai to visit a US Naval installation in Washington State and a US Navy recruitment center in San Gabriel, California. While in the recruitment center, Chen obtained personal information for recruits that he appears to have transmitted to an MSS intelligence officer in China. Chen received instruction from the MSS on how to engage and recruit future sailors and methods for minimizing his risk of exposure. Eventually, Chen began contacting a Navy employee over social media and provided information about the employee to MSS. Chen traveled to Guangzhou and met with MSS intelligence officers in April 2024 and March 2025 in order to discuss compensation and specific taskings.
Lai traveled to Houston, Texas, in April 2025, claiming that the purpose of his visit was related to his business as an online retail seller, and that he would be staying in the Houston area for two weeks. However, on May 9, 2025 — more than four weeks after his arrival in the US — Lai traveled by car with a companion from Houston to Southern California, via New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona, before returning to Texas, on May 15, 2025.
Chen and Lai are charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 951, which makes it a crime for a person to operate or agree to operate within the US as an agent of a foreign government without notification to the Attorney General of the US. If convicted, the defendants face a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years.
justice.gov/opa/pr/justice
foxnews.com/us/two-chinese
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nationals — Yuance Chen and Liren “Ryan” Lai — made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, on June 30 to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government without prior notification to the Attorney General. Chen, a legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Lai, who traveled from China to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested on June 27 on a criminal complaint charging them with overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence taskings in the US on behalf of Ministry of State Security (MSS). These activities included facilitating a “dead drop” payment of cash for information relating to the national security of the US previously provided to the MSS, gathering intelligence about US Navy service members and bases, and assisting with efforts to recruit other individuals from within the US military as potential MSS assets.
Chen and Lai were arrested by the FBI in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, respectively, as part of a coordinated counterintelligence and law enforcement operation across multiple states.
Lai recruited Chen to work on behalf of MSS in or about 2021. While in Guangzhou, China, in Jan 2022, Lai and Chen worked together to facilitate a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 on behalf of MSS, working with other individuals located in the US to leave a backpack with the cash at a day-use locker at a recreational facility located in Livermore, California.
Following the Jan 2022 dead drop, Lai and Chen continued to work on behalf of MSS, including by attempting to help identify potential assets for MSS recruitment within the ranks of the US Navy. For example, in 2022 and 2023, Chen was tasked by Lai to visit a US Naval installation in Washington State and a US Navy recruitment center in San Gabriel, California. While in the recruitment center, Chen obtained personal information for recruits that he appears to have transmitted to an MSS intelligence officer in China. Chen received instruction from the MSS on how to engage and recruit future sailors and methods for minimizing his risk of exposure. Eventually, Chen began contacting a Navy employee over social media and provided information about the employee to MSS. Chen traveled to Guangzhou and met with MSS intelligence officers in April 2024 and March 2025 in order to discuss compensation and specific taskings.
Lai traveled to Houston, Texas, in April 2025, claiming that the purpose of his visit was related to his business as an online retail seller, and that he would be staying in the Houston area for two weeks. However, on May 9, 2025 — more than four weeks after his arrival in the US — Lai traveled by car with a companion from Houston to Southern California, via New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona, before returning to Texas, on May 15, 2025.
Chen and Lai are charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 951, which makes it a crime for a person to operate or agree to operate within the US as an agent of a foreign government without notification to the Attorney General of the US. If convicted, the defendants face a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years.
justice.gov/opa/pr/justice
foxnews.com/us/two-chinese
static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/co..