A former NYPD sergeant charged in a Chinese government scheme dubbed “Operation Fox Hunt” had no idea he was working as an agent of Beijing when he took what he believed was a private surveillance job, his lawyer argued Wednesday at the start of his Brooklyn federal court trial.
Michael McMahon — the cop-turned-private-investigator — is on trial with two others accused of stalking and coercing former Chinese official and New Jersey resident Xu Jin in a bid to get him to return to his home country and face bribery and embezzlement charges.
McMahon’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, told the jury during opening statements his client “had no idea, none… that he was working for China.”
“He certainly didn’t know he was involved in a campaign called Fox Hunt or Skynet that involved transnational repression,” Lustberg said.
But prosecutor Irisa Chen claimed McMahon had dug up key information — like social security and phone numbers — to locate Xu and his family.
The former cop even met with a Chinese official once at a Panera Bread in Paramus, NJ — all suggesting he didn’t actually buy the “vague” cover story he was given about the job.
“McMahon knew this was not the true reason,” Chen argued in her opening remarks. “He looked the other way.”
McMahon — whose soap opera actress wife Martha Byrne appeared on “As the World Turns” from 1985 to 2009 — is charged alongside Congying Zheng and Yong Zhu with acting as an unlawful agent of the People’s Republic of China, interstate stalking and conspiracy.
The three have pleaded not guilty and face up to 10 years behind bars if convicted.
For roughly three years, prosecutors said, McMahon, Zheng and Zhu tried to coax Xu back to China — including sending strangers to his sister-in-law’s home to relay a threatening message, leaving a chilling note on his door and even sending his father to the US “as bait.”
“If you are willing to go back to the mainland and spend 10 years in prison, your wife and children will be safe,” read a note that was left on Xu’s door in 2018 by Zheng, prosecutors alleged.
Xu’s elderly father, Cewei Xu, was sent to the US in 2017 with a flip phone and instructions on how Xu should fill out paperwork at that airport to show the Chinese operatives meant business, Chen said.
Xu’s sister in law, Liu Yan, was the first witness to testify at trial and recounted how two strangers came to her Short Hills, NJ home on Thanksgiving in 2016 giving her a message to relay to Xu.
“Right now, this is no longer a normal issue. It’s a political issue,” Liu recalled one of the men saying.
“If you don’t go back to China, you and your family will be in trouble,” Liu was told to tell Xu. “If you want to resolve this issue, there’s only two ways: either you go back to China on your own and admit the crime or you disappear.'”
Liu testified that she interpreted the message to mean that Xu “would die” if he didn’t comply.
She also testified that Xu’s dad dropped unexpectedly dropped by her house and said he had a “task” to convince his son to come back to China.
“I cannot believe the law enforcement of China’s government was using an elderly man to meet their goal,” Liu she said.
A day after Xu’s dad’s drop-in, Liu said she thought she was being followed.
Xu came to the US thirteen years ago to live with his daughter, who was attending college in California.
He headed the municipal development division in Wuhan before the Chinese Communist Party turned against him and he was accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes, according to a 2021 ProPublica report.
The Chinese government put out an international notice for his arrest, Chen said.
Zheng’s lawyer, Paul Goldberg, said though his client left the threatening note on Xu’s door, Zheng went back within 24 hours to take the note back because he felt it wasn’t the right thing to do.
In total, eight people were accused in September 2020 of taking part in “Operation Fox Hunt,” but some of the defendants remain in China and at least one has pleaded guilty to the charges.
With Post wires
