- Aug 6, 2012
- 27,875
- 24,680
- 2,405
Another unpatriotic, treasonous scumbag.
State Dept. employee with top-secret clearance allegedly accepted cash and gifts from Chinese spies
Federal prosecutors accuse a veteran U.S. State Department employee of obstructing justice and lying about repeated contacts with foreign intelligence agents for China as she and people close to her accepted cash and gifts for years, according to charges unsealed Wednesday.
Candace Marie Claiborne, 60, has worked in office management at State since 1999 and held a top-secret security clearance, prosecutors said. She works at the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts but previously had postings in China, Iraq, Sudan and several other countries, court filings show.
The Justice Department said that between 2011 and 2016, agents for China gave Claiborne’s family tens of thousands of dollars in gifts, including cash, electronics, trips, an apartment and tuition at a Chinese fashion school.
She faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison if convicted, U.S. officials said.
Claiborne, of Washington, D.C., was not required to enter a plea at a court appearance Wednesday and said little before U.S. Magistrate Robin Meriweather of the District ordered her held on home confinement and set a preliminary hearing pending indictment for April 18.
Claiborne allegedly confided to an unidentified co-conspirator, who lived with her in China, that the agents were spies, prosecutors said, and wrote in her journal that she could “Generate 20K in 1 year” working with them. Prosecutors charge that one of the agents asked her to provide internal U.S. analyses of economic talks in 2011 between the two countries and wired her bank account nearly $2,500.
In a 59-page affidavit filed Tuesday in support of an arrest warrant, FBI Special Agent Kellie O’Brien with the Washington Field Office’s counterintelligence division said Claiborne misled investigators for State and the FBI, including by instructing the Chinese agents and her live-in co-conspirator to delete evidence of the contacts and gifts.
O’Brien did not name the Chinese nationals but said that one is an importer and exporter who runs a spa and restaurant in Shanghai and has known Claiborne since at least 2007 and that the other has communicated with Claiborne since 2012. U.S. authorities contend that both work for the Shanghai State Security Bureau, court filings show.
Prosecutors notified the court that they intended to use evidence collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
State Dept. employee with top-secret clearance allegedly accepted cash and gifts from Chinese spies
Federal prosecutors accuse a veteran U.S. State Department employee of obstructing justice and lying about repeated contacts with foreign intelligence agents for China as she and people close to her accepted cash and gifts for years, according to charges unsealed Wednesday.
Candace Marie Claiborne, 60, has worked in office management at State since 1999 and held a top-secret security clearance, prosecutors said. She works at the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts but previously had postings in China, Iraq, Sudan and several other countries, court filings show.
The Justice Department said that between 2011 and 2016, agents for China gave Claiborne’s family tens of thousands of dollars in gifts, including cash, electronics, trips, an apartment and tuition at a Chinese fashion school.
She faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison if convicted, U.S. officials said.
Claiborne, of Washington, D.C., was not required to enter a plea at a court appearance Wednesday and said little before U.S. Magistrate Robin Meriweather of the District ordered her held on home confinement and set a preliminary hearing pending indictment for April 18.
Claiborne allegedly confided to an unidentified co-conspirator, who lived with her in China, that the agents were spies, prosecutors said, and wrote in her journal that she could “Generate 20K in 1 year” working with them. Prosecutors charge that one of the agents asked her to provide internal U.S. analyses of economic talks in 2011 between the two countries and wired her bank account nearly $2,500.
In a 59-page affidavit filed Tuesday in support of an arrest warrant, FBI Special Agent Kellie O’Brien with the Washington Field Office’s counterintelligence division said Claiborne misled investigators for State and the FBI, including by instructing the Chinese agents and her live-in co-conspirator to delete evidence of the contacts and gifts.
O’Brien did not name the Chinese nationals but said that one is an importer and exporter who runs a spa and restaurant in Shanghai and has known Claiborne since at least 2007 and that the other has communicated with Claiborne since 2012. U.S. authorities contend that both work for the Shanghai State Security Bureau, court filings show.
Prosecutors notified the court that they intended to use evidence collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
