Engineer gets 24.5 years in prison
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - March 24, 2008 Chi Mak, 67, a naturalized U.S. citizen who worked on naval
propulsion systems, was also convicted of acting as an unregistered
foreign agent, attempting to violate export control laws and making
false statements to the FBI.
Federal prosecutors asked for 30 years, while Mak's defense team
proposed 10 years.
Mak asked U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney for leniency
before sentencing. Four of Mak's relatives, including his wife,
pleaded guilty last year to related offenses in exchange for
leniency.
"I don't know so much about the law, but I feel I never intend
to violate any law at all. I never intend to hurt my country. I
love this country. I don't believe I hurt this country," Mak told
the judge. "The truth is not like the one the prosecutor says. I
still hope for justice."
The judge said Mak lied on immigration and government security
clearance forms and perjured himself on the witness stand.
"I do believe a high-end sentence is appropriate here. Mr. Mak
sadly, I believe, betrayed the United States. ... I really don't
know how much damage he's done to us," Carney said.
"He's a very humble man, a very warm man and he wants to be
helpful," the judge said, referencing letters of support from
Mak's friends and former colleagues and friends. "But it's those
traits and that persona that allowed him to pass information to the
People's Republic of China."
Mak, who worked for Anaheim-based naval defense contractor Power
Paragon, was arrested in late 2005 after FBI agents stopped his
brother and sister-in-law as they boarded a flight to Hong Kong and
Guangzhou, China.
Investigators said they found three encrypted CDs in the
couple's luggage that contained documents on a submarine propulsion
system, a solid-state power switch for ships and a PowerPoint
presentation on the future of power electronics.
During a monthlong trial last year, Mak's attorneys argued that
the information he gathered was not classified and was often made
public at industry conferences that were attended by engineers from
all over the world, including China. They also argued that the
information that Mak was accused of trying to pass to China was
outdated and so far from being a functional technology that China
could have done little with it.
Mak's attorney, Ronald Kaye, said he would file an appeal within
10 days. He accused prosecutors of being overly harsh with his
client to make a point to the international espionage community and
to China.
"We believe that history will prove the facts of this case
differently," Kaye said outside court. "They essentially have
sentenced him as if he's a trophy rather than a human being."
Mak, who has been in custody since his arrest, was allowed to
hug his attorneys before being returned to the Metropolitan
Detention Center in Los Angeles. Kaye asked that he be placed in a
minimum security prison in Lompoc, Calif., and the court agreed to
recommend that to federal prison officials.
Mak's wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, pleaded guilty last year on the
eve of her trial to one count of acting as a foreign agent without
registering with the U.S. government. She is serving three years in
federal prison and will be deported upon release.
His brother, Tai Mak, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to
violate export control laws in exchange for a maximum sentence of
10 years in prison. Tai Mak's wife, Fuk Li, pleaded guilty to
aiding and abetting the violation of export control laws and
received three years of probation.
Yui "Billy" Mak, the son of Tai Mak and Fuk Li, pleaded guilty
to aiding and abetting the violation of export control laws and was
sentenced to time already served. The three will also be deported.