“If he’s secretly acting on behalf of the Chinese government, is he going to call the cops and tell them?” Lustberg said. “He had no idea, none ... that he was working for China.”

Loading

Irisa Chen, a prosecutor, said McMahon searched the target’s name on the internet and even met a Chinese official during his work, suggesting he saw through the “vague” cover story.

“McMahon knew this was not the true reason,” Chen said in her opening statement. “He looked the other way.”

Lawyers for Zhu and Zheng, both Chinese citizens and New York City residents, said their clients also did not know they were working for the Chinese government.

Xu had directed the municipal development division of the Chinese city of Wuhan before being charged with taking millions of dollars in bribes, according to a 2021 ProPublica investigation.

Chen did not refer to Xu by name, referring to him only as a former Chinese government official who came to the US in 2010 after falling out of favour with the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Beijing then put out an international notice for his arrest, Chen said.

Xu was identified by name by the first witness, his sister-in-law Liu Yan. She testified that at two separate points in 2016, individuals she did not know came to her Short Hills, New Jersey, home and told her that Xu should go back to China.

“I felt very scared,” she said.

Then, in early 2017, Xu’s elderly father, who lived in China and did not know her US address, showed up unannounced at Liu’s home and told her he had a “task” to persuade Xu to go back to China.

Chen said in her opening statement that Xu’s father was being used as “bait”.

“I cannot believe the law enforcement of China’s government was using an elderly man to meet their goal,” Liu testified.

Reuters