An active-duty army soldier has been charged with conspiring to commit bribery and theft of government property, according to the DOJ, when he was taken into custody on March 6, for selling hard drives and computers to a co-conspirator in china.
A battery supply sergeant stationed at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state, Jian Zhao, was allegedly caught communicating with an anonymous co-conspirator from July to Dec. of 2024. They were in communication to sell an encrypted military computer and 20 classified hard drives.
In the alleged sale of the encrypted computer, prosecutors said Zhao was paid $1,000 and told his co-conspirator, “It’s for two functions. It’s for encryption slot or for hard drive. It’s very rare now. Hard to find. If you can guarantee both of our safety while making some money for both of us, sell it. It’s the end of the year.”
According to prosecutors, red stickers on the hard drives means they contained secret-level information whilst yellow or orange stickers indicated they contain top-secret level information.
Zhao also allegedly communicated with two buyers from China, including his original co-conspirator, to sell them classified hard drives.
“I have many computer hard drives,” Zhao allegedly communicated to his co-conspirator.
“It may not be possible to check the contents of the hard drives. Tomorrow I will check how many are left. Do you understand unclassified and secret?” Zhao also stated.
In total Zhao has paid $7,500 for selling hard drives to buyers. In Oct. Zhao also sold intuitive military documents that he had photographed at his base, with this secret information he had a starting price of $3,000 to $4,000 for each document. In the end his co-conspirator agreed to a price sale of $6,500 for two documents.
The evidence in the court documents has surveillance photos of Zhao taking photos of documents at his desk with what seemed to be. Smartphone, whilst prosecutors alleged he was talking with his associate.
Some details to put into account is when zhao repeatedly stated that he would want to move back to the country, telling one buyer “I really want to go back to china.”
Federal prosecutors in Oregon have also charged another active-duty U.S. Army soldier, stationed at the same base as Zhao, whom they allege shared secret information affiliated to the military’s weapons systems with a former soldier.
Many prosecutors said that they believe Zhao is in control of a warehouse that they have been incapable of locating. They also hold the stance that Zhao contains more sensitive information but they are unaware of where that information is or to whom it was sent to.
