A U.S. Navy lieutenant in Jacksonville was sentenced Wednesday to 48 months in prison for violating U.S. firearms laws to aid a Chinese businessman, a relationship he concealed while renewing his top-secret security clearance.
Fan Yang, 37, was convicted in a conspiracy with his wife, Yang Yang, 36, of Jacksonville, and Ge Songtao, 52, of Nanjing, China, whose company purchased U.S. maritime equipment designed for law enforcement and military missions and exported it to China.
A federal jury found Fan Yang guilty last November of making false statements to federally licensed firearms dealers while buying two firearms for Ge Songtao and lying during a security clearance background investigation.
U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger ordered Yang to forfeit the guns he bought as a part of the conspiracy — a Sig Sauer 9 mm pistol and a Glock 9 mm pistol.
“Lt. Fan Yang swore an oath to protect this country, but instead he posed a significant risk to U.S. national security when he failed to report his contact with the head of a Chinese Defense Contracting firm,” Sherri E. Onks, special agent in charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division, said in a written statement. “This act was even more egregious considering Lt. Yang’s Top Secret security clearance and active duty status as an officer in the U.S. Navy.”
Michelle Kramer, special agent in charge of the NCIS Office of Special Projects, said, “Lt. Yang brought discredit to the Navy and threatened military operational readiness when he decided to make straw purchases of firearms for a foreign national and lie about that relationship during his security clearance background investigation."
According to evidence during the trial, Yang was trained in anti-submarine warfare. As a naval flight officer, he flew in the back of the Navy’s P-8 Poseidon, a land-based patrol aircraft, and operated sensors and coordinated tactics, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Before becoming a commissioned officer, Yang formed a relationship online with Ge Songtao. The two met in person in 2013, while Yang was in flight training in Pensacola, the U.S. attorney said.
In 2016, while Yang was stationed in Jacksonville, Yang recommended that Ge Songtao hire Yang’s wife, Yang Yang, as an employee of Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. Ltd., Ge Songtao’s company headquartered in Shanghai, China.
From the time she was hired, prosecutors said, Yang Yang received more than $300,000 in payments from Shanghai Breeze, its creditors and Ge Songtao’s executive assistant and co-defendant, Zheng Yan. The money was used to pay Yang Yang’s salary and Shanghai Breeze’s expenses in the U.S. and for goods that Ge Songtao ordered the Yangs to purchase. The funds were frequently routed through the Yangs’ family business, BQ Tree LLC, the U.S. attorney said.
In 2017 and 2018, acting on Ge Songtao’s instructions, Fan Yang bought two handguns for him, the Sig Sauer 9 mm pistol and a Glock 9 mm pistol, prosecutors said. Ge Songtao reimbursed the Yangs for both purchases and had the Sig Sauer pistol engraved with his initials — “G.S.T.” — and the phrase “Never Out of the Fight.”
Each time he bought a gun, Fan Yang completed a Firearms Transactions Record and falsely claimed he was buying the gun for himself, prosecutors said.
Evidence showed that although Ge Songtao employed Yang’s wife, had been to the Yangs’ home and had paid for the Yangs to travel and visit him, Fan Yang consistently hid their relationship from the Navy. For example, in July 2018, Yang asked for time off from his Navy chain of command, claiming he was traveling with his family to Walt Disney World when, in fact, he and his wife secretly traveled to Nebraska and met with Ge Songtao.
Then, in January 2019, while assigned as a tactics instructor at the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Weapons School in Jacksonville, Yang completed and signed a background questionnaire as part of the renewal of his top secret security clearance. That questionnaire required him to disclose any contact with foreign nationals. Yang failed to disclose the extent of his contacts with Ge Songtao and hid that he had maintained a bank account in China, sometimes worked for his family business, BQ Tree LLC, and possessed an expired Chinese passport.
On Nov. 2, 2020, Ge Songtao pleaded guilty to conspiring to submit false export information to the U.S. government and to export special forces maritime raiding craft and engines to China fraudulently. He also admitted attempting to export that equipment fraudulently. He was sentenced last July to 3 1/2 years in federal prison.
Yang Yang pleaded guilty to the same charges Sept. 15, 2020, and was later sentenced to time served: about 14 months in prison.
Co-defendant Zheng Yan pleaded guilty Aug. 13, 2020, to conspiring to submit false export information and to export the raiding craft and engines fraudulently. Zheng Yan was sentenced to time served: about six months in prison and 11 months of home detention.
