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A Navy flight officer was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday after federal officials discovered he lied on his security clearance paperwork to hide his connections to China and the head of a Chinese defense contracting firm.

The case of Lt. Fan Yang began before he became an officer and grew to include his family business and wife as money flowed in from employment contracts he signed with Chinese partners.

The crew member on the P-8 Poseidon aircraft was from Jacksonville, Florida. According to court records, a naturalized citizen named Yang joined the Navy briefly in 2005 but was discharged in 2007. He got a degree in electrical engineering and joined the service as an officer candidate.

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According to the Justice Department, Songtao Ge is a Chinese citizen. During his many trips to the U.S., Ge invested time and money in obtaining tactical weapons training by hiring U.S.-based firearms.

The relationship between the two men grew over the years, and by the year 2016 the Chinese businessman hired his wife, Yang, to handle business operations, conduct business negotiations, collaborate with other factories, and conduct other similar business for the company.

The money was used to pay the salaries of the Yangs, as well as the expenses of the Breeze in the US, according to the press release.

The funds were routed through the family business.

The Navy officer ran into trouble when he purchased two 9mm handguns and filled out paperwork declaring they were for his use. Ge had a pistol engraved with his initials and the phrase "Never Out of the Fight" on it.

This led to two charges against the man, one of which was lying on firearms forms and another of which was conspiring to violate firearms laws that prohibit ownership by foreigners.

He was in violation of the law again on his security clearance paperwork. He had a top secret security clearance. He didn't include his relationship with Ge, his wife's job with Ge's company, and his financial ties with China in renewing his clearance.

A man paid for a couple to visit him in Nebraska because of their deep relationship with Ge. According to court documents, the pair secretly traveled to Nebraska and met with Ge, and that the family was going to Disney.

Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said that Lt. Yang brought disgrace to the Navy and threatened military operational readiness when he lied about his relationship with a foreign national during his security clearance background investigation.

The Special Agent in Charge of the Jacksonville Field Office of the FBI said that Lt. Fan Yang posed a significant risk to U.S. national security because he swore an oath to protect this country.

Although the case is similar to that of Jonathan Toebbe, the federal officials did not charge him with using his clearance to transfer information to Chinese nationals.

When asked about this case, the Navy was not able to give a comment on the status of the man.

He was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release. His wife was sentenced to 14 months in prison for her role in the charges after she pleaded guilty.

According to the press release, Ge pled guilty in November 2020 to lying on export documents and trying to fraudulently export special forces maritime raiding craft and engines to China. He was sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison.

The person can be reached at Konstantin.toropin@military.com. You can follow him on the social networking site.

Navy officer guilty of hiding ties to Chinese businessman

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