A former New York police officer and two Chinese nationals were convicted Tuesday of attempting to intimidate a Chinese dissident and his family in what prosecutors characterized as a Beijing-backed plot to forcibly repatriate the man. Prosecutors said the trio conducted “a relentless campaign” to lure Xu Jin, a former Chinese official now living in New Jersey, and his relatives back to China, where Jin has been accused of stealing $30 million from the government. Michael McMahon, the former cop turned private investigator, and his co-defendants, Zhu Yong and Zheng Congying, were found guilty of stalking and conspiracy, among other related charges. McMahon’s attorneys argued that he didn’t know he had been hired to work for Beijing, but prosecutors said at trial that he “knew exactly what was going on right from the beginning.” The case is the first to be brought as a result of a Justice Department crackdown on China’s “Operation Fox Hunt,” an alleged initiative aimed at bringing supposed Chinese fugitives to justice.
