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Su
Bin, 51, was charged with taking part in a years-long scheme by
Chinese military officers to obtain sensitive military
information. In addition to the 46-month prison term, a judge in
U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ordered Su to pay a $10,000
fine.
"Su Bin's sentence is a just punishment for his admitted role in
a conspiracy with hackers from the People's Liberation Army Air
Force to illegally access and steal sensitive U.S. military
information," John Carlin, assistant attorney general for
national security, said in a statement.
"Su assisted the Chinese military hackers in their efforts to
illegally access and steal designs for cutting-edge military
aircraft that are indispensable to our national defense," the
statement said.
In an August 2014 indictment, prosecutors said Su traveled to
the United States at least 10 times between 2008 and 2014 and
worked with two unidentified co-conspirators based in China to
steal the data.
The trio were accused of stealing plans relating to the C-17
military transport plane and F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, and
attempting to sell them to Chinese companies.
According to prosecutors, in pleading guilty Su admitted sending
emails to his co-conspirators telling them which persons,
companies and technologies to target with their hacking and
translating the stolen material from English to Chinese.
Su admitted taking part in the crime for financial gain,
prosecutors said.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in
hacking.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang
repeated that the Chinese government opposes and punishes any
form of hacking.
"The so-called case of Chinese soldiers being involved in
stealing secrets from the United States is acting on hearsay and
has ulterior motives," Lu told reporters, without elaborating.
Su was arrested in Canada in 2014 and ultimately consented to
U.S. extradition.
He pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiring to gain
unauthorized access to a protected computer and to violate the
Arms Export Control Act.
(Reporting by Dan Levine and Dan Whitcomb; Additional reporting
by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Grant McCool and Richard
Chang)
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