A U.S. Navy sailor has been found guilty of espionage for transmitting sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Jinchao Wei, who served aboard the USS Essex at Naval Base San Diego, was convicted on multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit espionage and the illegal export of defense-related technical data. A jury, however, acquitted him on a separate charge of naturalization fraud. Wei is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1.
According to federal prosecutors, Wei began working with a Chinese intelligence operative in February 2022 after being contacted on social media. Over the following 18 months, he provided detailed information about U.S. Navy operations—including images and videos of the Essex, data on ship locations, and thousands of pages of technical documents stored on classified military systems.
In exchange, the Chinese officer paid Wei more than $12,000, according to investigators.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California described Wei’s actions as a “grave betrayal.”
“By trading military secrets to the People’s Republic of China for cash, he jeopardized not only the lives of his fellow sailors but also the security of the entire nation and our allies,” Gordon said in a statement. “The jury’s verdict serves as a crucial reminder that the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute traitors.”
Wei was arrested on August 2, 2023, as he arrived at work. During a post-arrest interview with the FBI, he allegedly confessed, saying, “I’m screwed.”
At the time of his arrest, Wei was serving as a machinist’s mate—an engineering role responsible for maintaining and operating ship equipment.
Wei’s case is part of a broader concern over foreign intelligence efforts targeting U.S. military personnel. Around the same time, another Navy sailor, Wenheng Zhao, was convicted in a similar case. Zhao, who admitted to accepting bribes and conspiring with a Chinese intelligence officer, was sentenced last year to more than two years in prison.