BROOKLYN, NY — The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a retired sergeant with the New York City Police Department was convicted after a U.S. trial in connection with an international scheme to stalk, harass, and intimidate a U.S. resident and his family on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and participating in a conspiracy to commit interstate stalking. The charges stem from McMahon’s role in the PRC’s “Operation Fox Hunt,” a global campaign to forcibly repatriate Chinese nationals living abroad.
McMahon, along with co-defendants Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, and Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, was convicted in June 2023 after a three-week federal jury trial. Zhu and Zheng were sentenced earlier this year to 24 months and 16 months in prison, respectively.
The U.S. Department of Justice said evidence presented at trial showed that, between 2016 and 2019, the defendants carried out a coordinated campaign to surveil and pressure a U.S. resident, identified as John Doe #1, and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to China to face alleged charges. The campaign included threats, harassment, and unrelenting surveillance directed at John Doe #1 and his family.
“As McMahon knew, the operation was intended not only to locate John Doe #1, but to coerce him to return to the PRC by exerting pressure on his family members,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. “In April 2017, PRC officials threatened to jail John Doe #1’s sister, who lived in the PRC, in order to coerce John Doe #1’s then-82-year-old father to travel from the PRC to their relative’s home in New Jersey. John Doe #1’s father, who had recently suffered a brain hemorrhage, was so frail that a doctor accompanied him for the trip. McMahon followed John Doe #1’s father from the relative’s New Jersey home, and, by doing so, was able to learn John Doe #1’s address. McMahon immediately provided this information to a PRC operative.”
In September 2018, Zheng and another co-conspirator drove to the New Jersey address of John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 that McMahon had provided, pounded on the front door, attempted to enter the home, and then peered through the windows in the back of the residence. They then left a threatening note on the front door stating that the victim’s “wife and children will be okay” if he returned to China to serve a 10-year prison sentence.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, McMahon was aware that the individuals he was investigating were wanted by the Chinese government—something he acknowledged in text messages exchanged with another investigator he had brought onto the case. After his arrest, McMahon admitted he knew his clients wanted to bring the victim back to China “so they could prosecute him.” After supplying the victim’s address, McMahon texted his surveillance partner that he was “waiting for a call” about next steps. His surveillance partner replied, “Yeah. From NJ State Police about an abduction,” to which McMahon responded, “Lol.”
McMahon later suggested to a PRC co-conspirator that they intimidate John Doe #1 by “[p]ark[ing] outside his home and let[ting] him know we are there.” He also took additional steps to harass the family, including researching their daughter’s university residence and field of study.
McMahon was paid over $19,000 for his role in the operation. In an apparent effort to conceal the payments’ origin, he deposited the funds into his son’s bank account—the only time he had used that account for client payments.
Three additional defendants have pleaded guilty for their involvement in the PRC-directed operation and are awaiting sentencing.
The FBI’s New York Field Office led the investigation, with support from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department’s National Security Division handled the case.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of transnational repression, the FBI urges you to report it through its website.
