American Citizen Busted Spying for China on U.S. Gets a Deuce

An American citizen has been sentenced to merely two years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government within the United States, a development that will surely come as a complete shock to anyone who assumed that was still frowned upon.

Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, an American citizen who lived and worked in the People’s Republic of China, was sentenced earlier this week to two years in prison and 36 months of supervised release with no overseas travel for acting as an agent of a foreign government within the United States. The no-overseas-travel part is expected to be especially inconvenient for a man whose entire business model depended on flying back and forth like a patriotic courier service for Beijing.

Court documents say that from at least 2019 until February 2026, Pauken, a total scumcrumpet, worked at the direction and control of people he knew worked for the PRC, including a person he met in 2017 identified as “Cathy.” 

Cathy, in the grand tradition of international intrigue, was apparently not just a friendly networking contact who happened to work for Chinese intelligence. 

“Pauken exploited his U.S. citizenship and corresponding ability to travel to the U.S. without restriction in order to support Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations, recruiting, and gathering of sensitive information from potential assets,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Pauken betrayed his country for money. The National Security Division is committed to holding accountable anyone who aids or abets Chinese espionage efforts.”

Cathy provided Pauken with taskings, including meeting with potential intelligence assets, providing them with devices such as a laptop and cellphone to communicate with Cathy, providing taskings for the assets on what information was required, and providing Cathy with reports from the assets. In other words, he was the guy who showed up with the complimentary hardware and a list of homework assignments from the Ministry of State Security.

“Thomas Pauken knowingly assisted a foreign adversary in actively subverting the government of the United States for his own financial gain,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia. “This was not an isolated act; Pauken continued his course of conduct to aid China for seven years. It is unconscionable that an American citizen would not only undermine the interests of the United States, but also facilitate others in doing so.”

Pauken received at least $100,000 for his work with Cathy. Cathy also paid for Pauken to travel several times between 2019 and 2025 from China to meet with individuals in the United States who could provide Pauken, and ultimately Cathy and the MSS, with information. 

Seven years of service, multiple recruitment trips, and a six-figure payout: the going rate for selling out the country appears to have been roughly the cost of a nice suburban kitchen remodel. And all he got was two years and some hand-holding when he gets out.

“Thomas Pauken admitted to working at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security to attempt to infiltrate U.S. political circles while also providing new recruitment targets for his Chinese handlers,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. “This case illustrates the lengths to which the Chinese Communist Party will go to undermine our democratic institutions, and it also demonstrates the FBI’s resolve to defend the homeland from threats to our national security. 

The sentencing provides a clear warning: anyone operating as an agent of a foreign government against the U.S. will be found by the FBI and held accountable.” At least for a little bit.

Pauken worked for two other people in China whom he met in 2017 and knew as “Richard” and “William.” They told Pauken that reports he wrote for them went to Japan, but Pauken believed they worked for the PRC government. 

Nothing says “plausible deniability” quite like two guys named Richard and William insisting the intel is definitely headed to Tokyo. 

Pauken also sold reports to a group of Chinese individuals from Wuhan who sought information about technology and the U.S. Department of Justice. The Wuhan clients wanted Pauken to find an expert to help them engage in cyber espionage. Because when you already have a guy with a U.S. passport and a side hustle, the natural next step is shopping around for a cyber specialist.

The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office investigated the case with the assistance of the FBI Washington Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gavin R. Tisdale of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Eli Ross of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence & Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. 

Currently, Pauken was reportedly reviewing the supervised-release terms and wondering whether “no overseas travel” includes a strongly worded exception for one last debrief with Cathy, who I doubt is a blond.

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