Chinese Official Gets Life Sentence for Espionage Involving Crypto Payments

A Chinese government employee, referred to as Wang, has received a life sentence for espionage after being convicted of leaking state secrets to a foreign operative.

Reportedly, Wang, who had suffered heavy financial losses in cryptocurrency, was paid over 1 million yuan via digital currency transactions in exchange for classified government information.

Wang’s story began on an online forum, where he shared his employment as a government official while seeking side work to manage his debts. A foreign contact soon reached out, offering large payments for insights into his department’s activities and research. Initially hesitant, Wang eventually agreed, sharing basic information.

However, as payments increased, so did the sensitivity of the information he provided.

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National security agents uncovered Wang’s covert exchanges and, following an investigation, he was handed a life sentence, permanently stripped of his political rights.

The case also revealed lax security practices in Wang’s department, where classified materials were not properly tracked or secured, and Wang’s supervisor allowed him unsupervised access to sensitive documents.

Kosta Gushterov