NYC man acted as foreign agent at secret Chinese police station: court verdict

John Annese, New York Daily News on May 13, 2026

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NEW YORK — A New York man who opened what federal prosecutors called a secret Chinese police station in lower Manhattan has been convicted of acting as a foreign agent and obstruction of justice.

Jurors in Brooklyn Federal Court needed one day to come to a split verdict in the trial of Lu Jianwang, 64, also known as Harry Lu, finding him guilty of two of the three counts against him, but acquitting on a charge of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Lu, of the Bronx, of opening the secret “overseas police service station” on East Broadway in Chinatown in early 2022, at the behest of China’s Ministry of Public Security, to track and harass Chinese dissidents living in the U.S.

He also deleted WeChat messages between him and his Chinese government handler after learning the FBI was looking into the police station, prosecutors said.

His lawyer, John Carman, said the East Broadway office was no secret police station. Rather, he said, it was a place where Chinese citizens living in the U.S. could renew their Chinese driver’s licenses remotely, and where members of the Chinese community could play ping-pong and mahjong.

Lu, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and a second man, Chen Jianping, who pleaded guilty prior to the trial, were the leaders of a nonprofit organization founded in 2013 that described its mission as a “social gathering place for Fujianese people.”

The jurors saw a large blue banner, seized from the site, that read “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station,” as well as photos of Lu with Chinese Communist Party officials, plus a text message between Lu and a Chinese security officer asking him for information about a dissident living in California.

“Just help me verify if this person exists, thanks,” the security officer texted him. “A friend is looking for him for a personal matter, no need to contact him directly, just verify his existence and that’s it.”

“A police station operating in New York City at the direction of the Chinese government has been exposed, its sinister purpose disrupted, and its founder held accountable for blatantly disregarding the law and our country’s sovereignty,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said.

Lu remains free on bond until his sentencing, a date for which has not yet been set.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed by the verdict today,” Carman, his attorney, said outside the courthouse. “The cautionary tale, I think, here is that if you’re a member of a community that originated in another country, be very, very, very careful how you deal with people from your country…. This is true most especially in Chinese-American communities.”

Carman maintained that Lu was prosecuted for failing to fill out a form saying he was doing work for the Chinese government renewing driver’s licenses.

“This is not espionage, this is not spying, this is not intelligence gathering,” the defense attorney said. “I said no good deed goes unpunished, because Harry’s motives were pure.”