중국계 미국인들이 많이 중국의 정보당국과 연결되어 있다고 신문들이
그러는데, 이번 사건 같은 것은 CIA가 담당하는 것이 아닌가요?
아직 CIA가 개입한다는 말은 없는 것 같은데..

– Federal judges denied bail to two brothers charged with being unregistered agents for China after lengthy hearings that included questioning of investigators.

One hearing Monday included detailed testimony from an FBI special agent and an FBI Mandarin-language expert involved in the case against U.S. defense technology engineer Chi Mak, 65, and his younger brother, Tai Wang Mak.

Mak, his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, and his brother were indicted on a charge of being unregistered agents for China. All have pleaded not guilty; Chiu is free on $300,000 bond.

Investigators allege that Chi Mak took computer disks from Anaheim-based defense contractor Power Paragon, where he worked on a sensitive research project involving propulsion systems for Navy warships, and took steps to send the information to China.

Chi Mak, who is a U.S. citizen, allegedly passed the information to his brother, who then encrypted or helped encrypt the files and loaded them onto a computer disk, according to prosecutors.

Tai Mak and his wife, Fuk Heung Li, were arrested Oct. 28 at Los Angeles International Airport as they prepared to travel to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, allegedly with an encrypted disk.

U.S. District Judge Marc Goldman denied bail to Tai Mak on Monday after hearing from two FBI agents involved in building the case against the brothers.

FBI Special Agent James Gaylord, who prepared an affidavit submitted last month that alleged the defendants committed crimes ranging from stealing government property to conspiracy, said Chi Mak’s home had been under surveillance since June 2004. Gaylord referenced several phone calls between Tai Mak, his son and his wife in which they allegedly discussed encrypting the files and made at least one reference to doing so on previous occasions.

He also mentioned a call Tai Mak made to a contact in China during which he said he worked for the “Red Flower of North America” – a possible reference to a spy organization, Gaylord said. Tai Mak has a green card allowing him to work in the United States.

Gaylord, a counterintelligence agent, has stated in court documents that Chi Mak admitted feeding information on Navy research to China since 1983.

Tai Mak’s attorney also questioned Daniel Bolick, the FBI agent who first interviewed Tai Mak in Mandarin after his arrest at the airport. Bolick said that Tai Mak at first lied about having siblings, lied about the contents of the encrypted computer disk and was evasive when asked where he would be staying in China.

Tai Mak’s attorney, John Early, has challenged those statements and suggested Monday that the FBI rushed to build its case when it learned Tai Mak and his wife were about to leave the country.

“Often when you’re forced to act quickly, you act on incomplete information. … The grandiose allegations suddenly seem smaller and smaller,” Early said.

In an earlier hearing, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney overturned an earlier ruling by another judge to grant release on bond to Chi Mak.

Carney said he recognized strong character evidence supporting the release of the engineer, but the nature of the charge and alleged activities made it impossible to grant bond. He scheduled another hearing in two weeks to revisit the issue.

Carney said defense arguments that prosecutors trumped up the case to raise alarm didn’t convince him that Chi Mak wasn’t a flight risk.

“You’re talking about billions of dollars of technology that puts our country at serious risk. You are saying this is a big farce … but this is a pretty darn serious charge,” the judge said.