A former U.S. Marine has been charged with attempting to sell information to Chinese authorities while working as a security guard at an American consulate. From Reuters:
Bryan Underwood, 31, was arrested in Los Angeles after fleeing from initial charges that he lied to the FBI about why he was taking photographs of the consulate. Prosecutors declined to identify the consulate where he worked in China ….
The new indictment accused him of writing a letter to Chinese officials expressing an interest “in initiating a business arrangement” and also lying when he told FBI agents he was trying to help them when he took photos of his workplace ….
A lawyer for Underwood was not immediately available for comment. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
ABC provides more details, and names Hong Kong as the consulate in question:
A former guard who worked for the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong has been charged with attempting to pass national defense information to the Chinese government. Bryan Underwood, a former U.S. Marine who worked as a contract guard at the consulate, allegedly tried to pass photographs and other national defense information to the Chinese government since March 2011 ….
Underwood was charged in a superseding indictment, unsealed today, with allegedly trying to pass photographs and other defense information to the Chinese government. According to U.S. officials, Underwood allegedly reached out to the Chinese while he was in China. One source alleged that Underwood might have been trying to provide bugging locations where Chinese officials could monitor conversations at the U.S. consulate.
