Chinese national pleads guilty to abetting espionage in DOD secrets case News
Chinese national pleads guilty to abetting espionage in DOD secrets case

[JURIST] A Chinese woman who is a permanent resident of New Orleans pleaded guilty Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana [official website] to charges of aiding and abetting espionage by passing national defense information to Chinese agents. Yu Xin Kang [CICentre materials] could face 10 years in prison for acting as an intermediary between Louisiana businessman Tai Kuo and Defense Security Cooperation Agency [official website] analyst Gregg William Bergersen. Kang allegedly passed classified military information to Chinese foreign officials. AP has more. The Times-Picayune has local coverage.

Bergersen was charged [affidavit, PDF] and arrested [JURIST report] in February and later pleaded guilty [DOJ press release; JURIST report] to conspiracy for disclosing national defense information. Kuo also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and could be sentenced to life in prison. In a separate Chinese espionage case, officials arrested Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a former Chinese-American engineer at Boeing [corporate website], in February for allegedly stealing corporate trade secrets related to aerospace programs and turning them over to China [JURIST news archive]. Chung's arrest was reportedly related to the case of Chi Mak [CI Centre backgrounder; JURIST report], a Chinese-American engineer sentenced [JURIST report] in March for conspiring to smuggle sensitive naval intelligence data to China.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.