A former New York Police Department detective was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of harassing and stalking an individual on behalf of the Chinese state.
Michael McMahon, 57, targeted a New Jersey resident and his family, the Associated Press reported.
He stalked and operated on behalf of China without informing the US government. But two members of Congress persuaded the judge to spare him from jail time, the report added.
He was further fined $11,000 for being an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China (PRC) government, interstate stalking, and conspiracy to commit the same, as per the Office of Public Affairs.
He was one of 10 defendants in the federal lawsuit that sparked the first trial based on the US allegations of China's 10-year-old "Operation Fox Hunt" operation.
In 2023, McMahon was found guilty of aiding an international pressure campaign to convince a former Chinese city official to leave the United States and return to his native country.
The strategies included posting threatening real-world notes on the man's door in New Jersey and Facebook communications.
Following a three-week prosecution, a federal jury found McMahon and co-defendants Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, and Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, guilty in June 2023.
Yong and Zheng received prison sentences of 24 months and 16 months, respectively, in January 2025.
US District Judge Pamela Chen noted that McMahon endorsed transnational repression "that hurt the targeted individual, his family, and the nation".
"This type of crime really does threaten our country's national security," Ms Chen said.
"Transnational repression" refers to actions taken by countries like China and Iran to control or threaten the immigrants vocal in their disapproval of their home governments.
McMahon claimed during an hours-long sentencing hearing that he was "unwittingly used" by Chinese agents in 2016 after accepting what he believed to be a standard private investigator contract, as per The NY Times.
"I never thought for one minute I was working for China, stalking anyone. Yet now I've lost everything," he claimed, calling it a "nightmare."
McMahon was not found guilty of plotting to be a Chinese spy. He further stated that he was innocent of all the accusations.
Republican US Representatives Mike Lawler and Pete Sessions supported McMahon. In a June 2024 letter, which was part of a court filing, they expressed their belief that McMahon was innocent.
