Liren Lai and Yuance Chen
Introduction
Liren “Ryan” Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39 — both nationals of the People’s Republic of China — were each sentenced on October 30, 2026, to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to act as agents of the PRC government and acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General. According to court documents, the two men agreed to operate under the direction and control of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), carrying out clandestine intelligence activities in the United States that included facilitating secret “dead drop” cash payments in exchange for U.S. national security information, gathering information about U.S. military personnel and installations, and assisting efforts to recruit potential intelligence assets from within the U.S. military. Both men pleaded guilty.
Background Information
Court documents trace the partnership’s start: Lai and Chen began acting as agents of the MSS no later than May 2021. The release describes the MSS as the PRC’s principal civilian intelligence service, responsible for conducting foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations. Lai recruited Chen into the scheme and initially served as an intermediary between Chen and MSS intelligence officers; Chen subsequently received assignments directly from MSS officers. Beyond their ages, their Chinese nationality, and those roles, the release offers no personal history for either man, so the record about them is almost entirely the record of the operation itself.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced.
The admitted activity spans more than four years and alternates between the two men. Lai and Chen facilitated a clandestine cash payment of approximately $10,000 in January 2022: while both defendants were in the PRC, they coordinated with individuals in the United States to leave a backpack containing the cash in a locker at a recreational facility in Livermore, California. Such arrangements — “dead drops” — allow intelligence operatives to transfer money or information without directly meeting the intended recipient. Beginning in 2022, Chen gathered information about U.S. military installations and personnel at the direction of Lai and MSS intelligence officers, obtaining photographs of Navy Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, and photographs and videos of military recruits and active-duty sailors inside a Navy recruiting station in Southern California. Chen also collected personal identifying information about a U.S. Navy employee and maintained detailed biographical information about military personnel who were potential intelligence targets.
In March 2023, Lai traveled to the U.S. and delivered a cell phone to Chen for covert communications with the MSS — communications Chen referred to as a “state secret.” Chen later traveled to China in 2024 and 2025, where he met with MSS officers and received additional assignments concerning U.S. service members. In April 2025, Lai again traveled from China to the U.S. to carry out assignments for the MSS, and the following month the MSS directed him to travel to Phoenix to facilitate another clandestine cash payment of approximately $20,000 in furtherance of its intelligence operations. Lai and Chen were arrested on June 27, 2025, during a coordinated FBI counterintelligence and law enforcement operation. A federal grand jury in the Northern District of California returned an indictment on July 1, 2025, charging both defendants with conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General and acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification. Lai pleaded guilty to both offenses on December 12, 2025, and Chen pleaded guilty to both offenses in February 2026.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The sentencing drew extensive official comment. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Lai and Chen “operated in a long-running scheme to undermine U.S. national security by supporting Chinese intelligence operations and recruiting in the United States.” U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California said, “These defendants were directed by a foreign intelligence service to gather information about the U.S. military in the hopes of undermining our national security.” Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said, “By their own admission, Chen and Lai operated as illegal agents for the Chinese government on U.S. soil, carrying out clandestine intelligence work that included making covert payments, collecting sensitive military information, and attempting to recruit American service members,” and closed, “Let this sentencing serve as a clear warning: If you attempt to jeopardize the safety and security of our service members, our citizens, or our nation, justice will find you.”
The FBI San Francisco Field Office led the investigation, with assistance from the FBI’s Portland, Houston, and San Diego Field Offices and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California handled the prosecution, with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Oregon, the Southern District of Texas, and the Southern District of California.
Current Status
Both men have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Lai, 40, and Chen, 39, are each to serve 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, convictions entered on charges of conspiring to act as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General and acting as such agents. The release does not say where they will be held, whether they face immigration consequences after their terms, or whether either has appealed; the October 30, 2026 sentencing announcement is the latest word in the record.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Each man’s clandestine career ended in the same place: a guilty plea, a 30-month prison term, and three years of supervised release. The work they admitted — dead-drop cash deliveries, photographs of a Navy base and a Southern California recruiting station, personal data on a Navy employee, biographical files on potential intelligence targets, and recruitment of American service members on behalf of the MSS — is now a matter of federal convictions. Beyond their ages and nationality, the release describes no personal lives for either man, so the documented impact is the legal one: prison, supervised release, and a permanent place in the public record of MSS-directed operations on U.S. soil.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Two Men Sentenced for Acting as Agents of the People’s Republic of China”, October 30, 2026 — source