Florida Man Sentenced for Acting as Unregistered Agent for Chinese Government

Ping Li, photo by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

Ping Li, 59, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $250,000 for conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). He will also serve three years of supervised release.

Li, a U.S. citizen originally from the PRC, admitted to working with the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s civilian intelligence agency, since at least 2012. Acting under their direction, he provided information on Chinese dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, and pro-democracy advocates in the U.S., as well as confidential data from his U.S. employers in telecommunications and IT.

Court documents detail several incidents where Li delivered requested information to the MSS, including:

• 2012: Identified a Florida-based Falun Gong practitioner.
• 2015: Shared details about his employer’s operations in China.
• 2017: Supplied training materials via a shared online account.
• 2021: Reported on hacking incidents targeting U.S. companies.
• 2022: Provided information on a cybersecurity company and a suspected PRC defector’s U.S. address.

The FBI led the investigation, with prosecution by attorneys from the Middle District of Florida and the Justice Department’s National Security Division.