The Chinese language Communist Occasion funneled cash right into a US non-profit group to realize favor with tri-state native and federal regulation enforcement and personal investigators, then used them to stress Chinese language dissidents within the US, The Put up has realized.
The Nationwide Police Protection Basis, arrange in 1995 by retired federal agent Joseph Occhipinti to offer medical and authorized help providers to members of the regulation enforcement neighborhood, helped make introductions to a non-public safety agency for a suspected Chinese language intelligence agent within the US, in keeping with public paperwork and media stories.
The NPDF, which boasts greater than 200,000 retired and lively regulation enforcement members, awarded high-ranking Chinese language intelligence agent Liu Wei with its Distinguished Member Award in 2015 – a yr after he donated $10,000 to the group, in keeping with federal tax filings – and launched him because the non-profit’s “delegate to China” on its web site.
That very same yr, Chinese language chief Xi Jinping arrange Operation Fox Hunt, a Chinese language safety program to crack down on dissidents overseas, prompting the nation’s spies to aim getting their hooks into native regulation enforcement officers within the US to spy on Chinese language nationals, in keeping with the FBI and courtroom papers.
Liu, the pinnacle of China Safety and Safety Firm Ltd (CSP) is an intelligence agent of the Chinese language authorities, a supply with data informed The Put up. His firm has shut Communist hyperlinks, working safety on the 2022 Congress of the Chinese language Communist Occasion and 2021’s celebration of the a hundredth anniversary of the get together’s founding, in keeping with stories.
Liu has labored with NPDF since 1999, in keeping with data on the non-profit’s website, which praised him for “pursuing frequent pursuits which embrace the battle in opposition to worldwide crime syndicates, worldwide terrorists, and the plight of victims of human trafficking gangs.”
Occhipinti, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, informed The Put up he first met Liu in December 1999.
“It was at a time when there have been constructive relations between the USA and China,” he stated in an e mail, including that the NPDF held an “historic worldwide police convention” in Beijing in 2005, inviting a delegation of retired regulation enforcement officers from the US who in contrast notes on drug and human trafficking and terrorism, amongst different points.
The convention, he stated, was permitted by the State Division and obtained a Senate proclamation from late US Senator Arlen Spector.
He stated his group has been “clear” through the years, notifying the FBI of their relationships with Chinese language officers.
“Sadly, occasions have modified,” Occhipinti stated, referring to present relations between the US and China.
In 2022, The Put up first revealed the presence of a Chinese language police station in Decrease Manhattan being run by a shady charity that hosted a gala dinner for New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
Two US residents had been charged final yr with organising the police station above a noodle store in Chinatown and serving to safety officers from China find dissidents who had been dwelling in New York.
CSP additionally organized a number of journeys to China for NPDF members, together with Occhipinti, in keeping with the charity’s web site. Liu’s daughter additionally hung out on the Occhipinti dwelling whereas she attended highschool within the US, in keeping with social media posts.
In 2015, the NPDF lobbied then New York State Senator Martin Golden to problem a proclamation honoring Liu as “a person of singular distinction” and praising him for “selling constructive police relations between the USA and China because the official NPDF Delegate to China.”
Golden, a Republican from Brooklyn and former police officer, was named NPDF’s “Man of the Yr” at an NPDF gala dinner in 2009.
Occhipinti, who runs the inspiration along with his spouse Angela, helped introduce Liu to US safety officers, and by 2016, Liu went into enterprise with Bo Dietl, the NYPD detective-turned-private investigator who additionally ran for New York mayor in 2017, The Put up revealed final yr.
“When Mr. Wei expressed curiosity in opening a US based mostly safety firm, he was referred to an lawyer and the FBI was notified,” Occhipinti stated, including that the deal was brokered by way of “a well-respected retired FBI particular agent who owned a non-public safety firm.”
NPDF didn’t obtain any financial compensation for the deal, he stated.
CSP introduced on its Chinese language-language web site that it had acquired 50 p.c of the fairness of Beau Dietl & Associates in 2016. Each Dietl’s New York-based agency and Occhipinti had been listed on CSP’s website as the corporate’s US-based associates earlier than The Put up’s article appeared in June, 2023.
Occhipinti was described as a member of CSP’s “professional workforce” of advisors on the internet web site. A hyperlink to Dietl’s safety firm additionally appeared on the CSP’s web site. All have since been eliminated.
Dietl informed The Put up final yr that he had reduce connections with the Chinese language agency.
Nevertheless, for years CSP has been listed as a company sponsor of NPDF gala dinners and occasions which regularly embrace high-ranking authorities, together with members of the Secret Service, Homeland Safety, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Occhipinti, 74, is a former Immigration and Naturalization Service Supervising Particular Agent. He was convicted on conspiracy to violate civil rights, amongst different prices, in 1991.
His sentence was commuted in 1993 by President George W. Bush, and former president Trump granted him a full pardon in December 2020.
Along with his ties to Liu, Occhipinti additionally helped arrange patrols with members of native Chinese language communities in New York Metropolis, a few of whom are members of China’s United Entrance – organizations which gather intelligence and promote the communist get together abroad – in keeping with Chinese language media stories.
In 2021 the NPDF launched an Asian “neighborhood patrol” in NYC that consisted of lively and retired army personnel and officers, the stories stated.
Occhipinti labored with Su Junan, an Asian liaison to the NPDF, who’s affiliated with not less than one United Entrance group in New York. Su is a member of Lianjiang No. 2 Center Faculty Alumni Affiliation the place he’s “chief advisor,” in keeping with a Chinese language-language press report.
Final yr, Su attended the alumni affiliation’s Chinese language Nationwide Day gala and was photographed in a bunch shot of attendees together with assistant New York Police Division commissioner Gui’an Lin, who The Put up first revealed has hyperlinks to the CCP earlier this yr.
Occhipinti additionally managed to enlist a Homeland Safety agent to assist prepare members of the New York Veterans Group Patrols with Su to fight Asian hate crimes in Flushing, in keeping with Chinese language media. Occhipinti informed the China Press in 2021 “the inspiration will present skilled coaching and steering to the patrol group.”
Liu Wei and Su didn’t reply to The Put up’s outreach for remark.
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