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A federal judge denied a motion Monday for a new trial in the case of a Chinese-born engineer convicted of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney rejected Chi Mak's motion after a hearing that included testimony from several defense witnesses. Carney set Mak's sentencing for March 24. Mak could face up to 45 years in prison. Mak, 67, was convicted last May of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that prosecutors said could make submarines virtually undetectable. A jury also found him guilty of...

The last defendant in an extended family charged with conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China reached a plea deal that brought the case to an abrupt end, authorities said Wednesday. Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, 63, reached the deal with federal prosecutors late Tuesday on the eve of her trial on charges of conspiracy to export defense articles, failure to register as a foreign agent and making false statements to the FBI. Chiu instead pleaded guilty to one count of acting as a foreign agent without registering with the U.S. government and will serve three years in prison, said her...

Three family members of a Chinese-born engineer convicted of attempting to export U.S. defense technology to China have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy, authorities said Monday. All three were set to stand trial Tuesday. Instead, engineer Chi Mak's brother Tai Mak pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to export control laws; Tai Mak's wife, Fuk Li, pleaded guilty Monday to aiding and abetting the violation of export control laws; and the couple's son, Yui "Billy" Mak, pleaded guilty last week to aiding and abetting the violation of export control laws. Chi Mak's wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, is still...

California jury convicts engineer of conspiring to steal U.S. military secrets for China Friday May 11, 2007 By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Writer SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) After a six-week trial, a federal jury convicted a Chinese-born engineer of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that could make submarines virtually undetectable. Friends and colleagues knew Chi Mak as an unassuming, brilliant man who worked 12-hour days as an engineer for a defense contractor, rarely went out and scrimped to pay off his 700-square-foot suburban home. Federal prosecutors portrayed Mak as a...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Jurors convicted a Chinese-born engineer Thursday of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that could make submarines virtually undetectable. Chi Mak also was found guilty of being an unregistered foreign agent. Prosecutors had dropped a charge of actually exporting defense articles. When the verdict was read, Mak at first showed no emotion but then appeared to hold back tears as defense attorney Marilyn Bednarsky teared up and rubbed his back. Defense attorney Ron Kaye's face was flush. Mak faces up to 35 years in prison when he...

A Chinese-born engineer who worked on U.S. naval technology sought to give China information on propulsion of future submarines, a federal prosecutor said Monday in urging jurors to convict the defendant of conspiring to export defense materials and other crimes. "The defendant was spying for China," Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said in closing arguments. "This man's life has been defined by one thing and that is hiding his connection to the People's Republic of China." The six-week case against Chi Mak, 66, a naturalized U.S. citizen, went to the jury later in the day after prosecutors claimed he took...

Testimony in the case of a Chinese-born engineer accused of stealing U.S. defense secrets revolved Thursday around whether he needed government approval to export a document on a quiet submarine propulsion system to China. Authorities believe Chi Mak, a naturalized U.S. citizen, stole thousands of pages of defense documents from his defense contractor employer, Power Paragon, and gave them to his brother, who passed them along to Chinese authorities over a number of years. He was arrested in 2005 in Los Angeles after FBI agents stopped his brother and sister-in-law as they boarded a flight to Hong Kong. Investigators said...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Navy investigator testified Wednesday that a computer disk seized from the brother of a Chinese-born engineer accused of stealing U.S. defense technology secrets contained encrypted files. Nicholas Mikus, an investigative computer specialist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said the files could only be unlocked with a specific "key," a chain of 113 letters that was stored on a floppy disk. Mikus was the latest witness called by the government in its case against Chi Mak, an engineer accused of passing sensitive military information to the Chinese government for more than 20 years. Mak, a...

SANTA ANA - A federal agent testified Friday that investigators found a computer disk with sensitive details on the Navy's next generation of destroyers when they searched the home of a Chinese-American engineer accused of illegally sending technology information to China. FBI Special Agent James Gaylord said the CD was found at the home of Chi Mak after his arrest and it contained materials related to the so-called DDX, highly advanced guided-missile warships that are under development. The documents were sent by the Navy to companies during contract bidding, including the company Mak worked for, Power Paragon Inc. The company...

A defense company engineer accused of conspiring to send technical military information to China was never given permission to share sensitive documents on a future Navy warship with his brother, a security official for the company testified Thursday. Fred Witham, who oversees security for Power Paragon Inc., was questioned about defendant Chi Mak's access to a so-called DDX document. The government claims the document was found on a computer belonging to Mak's brother, who is also charged in the case. Mak, a Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen, went on trial this week in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors also asked Witham whether...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Prosecutors in the trial of US engineer Chi Mak said Wednesday that secret US submarine technology information he had tried to smuggle to China was aimed at helping it take control of Taiwan. Assistant US attorney Greg Staples said the sensitive data on a computer disk Mak tried to provide China through his brother included information on Quiet Electric Drive, a technology under development to make submarines silent. China's navy "is supportive of the re-taking of Taiwan (and) the chief impediment to retaking Taiwan is the 7th fleet of the US Navy," Staples said as the...

A jury of eight women and four men was selected Tuesday for the federal trial of a Chinese-American engineer accused of stealing military secrets and conspiring to send them to China. The panel and four alternates, who will hear opening statements on Wednesday, were chosen after the judge and attorneys quizzed prospective jurors on a range of issues including views on Chinese immigrants, China's role in the world, the U.S. Navy, protection of military technology and occupations. Among jurors were a woman whose husband works with the Navy and government agencies, a man who loads trucks for a container company,...

LOS ANGELES – The FBI knew about Chi Mak's retirement plans, what his dining room looked like and what he allegedly took home from work. The 66-year-old engineer for a Southern California defense contractor and his 57-year-old brother, Tai Mak, were under surveillance for months. Agents tapped the Maks' phones, planted listening devices in their cars, sifted through their trash and installed a closed-circuit camera above Chi Mak's dining-room table. Investigators suspected Chi Mak was taking restricted documents about naval technology from his job at Anaheim-based defense contractor Power Paragon and passing them to his brother, who was going to...

LOS ANGELES Two family members were charged Wednesday in the federal case against a Chinese-American engineer accused of trying to send sensitive information about Navy warships to China. An indictment returned by a grand jury in Santa Ana charged Billy Mak, 26, and his mother, Fuk Heung Li, 48, with making false statements and acting as agents of a foreign government, namely China, without prior notification to the U.S. attorney general, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. Billy Mak is the nephew of Chi Mak, who allegedly took computer disks from an Anaheim defense contractor where he was lead engineer on...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A judge on Friday denied a request to free a Chinese American engineer who was arrested for allegedly trying to send military secrets to China. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney listened to more than six hours of testimony before deciding to keep Chi Mak, 65, of Downey in custody. Carney said he found it "troubling" that the defendant had taken restricted documents to his house. "I'm going to stick with my previous ruling," he said. The FBI arrested Mak and his wife in October for investigation of conspiracy to steal U.S. government documents. That...

SANTA ANA – A federal judge on Monday overruled another judge's decision to grant release on bond to a U.S. defense technology engineer charged with being an unregistered agent for China. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said he recognized strong character evidence supporting the release of engineer Chi Mak but that the nature of the charge and alleged activities made it impossible to grant bond. Mak, his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, and his brother, Tai Wang Mak, were indicted on a charge of being unregistered agents for China. All have pleaded not guilty. Investigators allege that Chi Mak, 65,...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The case against three alleged Chinese agents is set to return to court Monday with testimony from an FBI official that could help explain why the government has filed only one criminal charge despite making sweeping claims of conspiracy and theft. Chinese-American engineer Chi Mak, his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, and brother Tai Wang Mak pleaded not guilty Nov. 22 to charges that they were unregistered agents for China. Each was indicted on a single count even though an affidavit submitted last month by FBI Special Agent James Gaylord alleged they had committed crimes ranging from...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A federal judge set bail at $300,000 Friday for a Chinese-American engineer accused of stealing U.S. military secrets, but ordered his younger brother held until another hearing later this month. Chi Mak, his wife and brother were indicted Tuesday on a charge of acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the U.S. attorney general. If convicted, each could face up to 10 years in prison. According to the original affidavit, Mak, 65, stole computer disks from defense contractor Power Paragon, where he was lead engineer on a sensitive research project involving...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The federal government's case against three Chinese immigrants first accused of a broad plot to steal secrets involving U.S. warship technology yielded a single, dressed-down count of failing to register as foreign agents. While government authorities said they may seek more charges, some counterintelligence analysts see parallels with other cases against alleged Chinese spies that eventually unraveled. "There's one case after another where senior officials allege serious activities ... and then the case just falls apart and you end with minor-looking charges," Paul Moore, a former China chief analyst for the FBI, said Wednesday. "This looks...

  Do We Finally Get To Kill Somebody?November 10, 2005 With real threats to our national security in full bloom, and traitors in need of immediate lethal injection, why is the Beltway obsessed with much ado about a paper-pushing blond and her self-admitted psychedelic husband?  Maybe the rest of liberal America, along with Joe Wilson, have had “too many wives and taken too many drugs”. Or, in Bill Bennett’s words is it just a case of Overt Inconsistency?  As Bennett rhetorically notes about the liberals, and the MSM Fifth Column, their “support for the CIA, and...for secrecy in war and intelligence, lasted...