NEW YORK (AP) — A real estate businessman who aided a Chinese effort to pressure an expatriate to return home has been sentenced to over a year in a U.S. prison.
U.S. prosecutors say Quanzhong An’s activities were part of the Chinese government's “Operation Fox Hunt,” which Beijing says is about pursuing people who have fled justice. Washington sees it as transnational repression, a term for governments working to silence dissenters beyond their borders.
“Quanzhong An acted at the direction of the (Chinese) government to harass and intimidate individuals living on U.S. soil as part of a pernicious scheme to force their repatriation,” Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement Wednesday.
Messages seeking comment were sent Thursday to China's embassy in Washington and consulate in New York. China has previously denied threatening its nationals abroad.
An, a 58-year-old Chinese citizen and legal U.S. resident, pleaded guilty last year to acting as an illegal foreign agent. He was sentenced to 20 months behind bars. He has served seven of them already.
“Mr. An is in my opinion, on balance, a very fine man and accordingly, seeing him return to prison for even one additional day is heartbreaking,” his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Thursday. But he noted that prosecutors had sought a considerably longer prison term.
According to prosecutors and an indictment, An was the key U.S.-based player in a transcontinental effort targeting a former manager of a Chinese state-owned company. Prosecutors haven't named the man or the company.
Beijing has accused the man of embezzlement, identified him as an “Operation Fox Hunt” priority and asked law enforcement agencies worldwide to find and apprehend him, according to the indictment.
An, who lives in suburban Roslyn Heights, New York, showed up at the home of the target's son to try to find the father in 2017, the indictment said.
Then, in a series of recorded meetings with the son starting in early 2020, An leaned on him to secure his father's return to China. An said he that was trying to help the Chinese government communicate with the two, and that he would look good to Chinese officials if he could arrange the father's return, according to the indictment.
While acknowledging that a Chinese embezzlement case against the father and son was a legally frivolous pressure tactic, An told the son that Chinese officials were monitoring the family's relatives and would “keep pestering you” if the father didn’t return, the indictment said.
“Their intent is to make your life difficult,” the indictment quotes him as saying.
An even offered to pay back the man's allegedly ill-gotten gains, according to the indictment, and eventually arranged for a Chinese official to press the man's son by phone.
In recent years, the U.S. Justice Department has charged dozens of suspects with acts of transnational repression on behalf of China, Iran or other countries. On Thursday, a Manhattan federal jury convicted two men of conspiring to kill Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad in what U.S. prosecutors claimed was a murder-for-hire plot financed by the Iranian government and foiled when police stopped the intended hit man's car. Tehran has denied involvement in any schemes to kill people in the U.S.
An was charged in 2020 along with six other people, including his daughter Guangyang An. She is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last May. The current status of the other five isn’t immediately clear.
In a separate case in the same Brooklyn federal courthouse, three men were convicted in 2023 at the first trial surrounding U.S. claims about “Operation Fox Hunt.” Two of those defendants have been sentenced to prison; the third is awaiting sentencing.
FILE - U.S. and Chinese flags wave at Genting Snow Park, Feb. 2, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Scottie Scheffler is happy to be back at his hometown event and showed it.
Cameron Champ isn't far from familiar territory, either, which is a good thing considering he got the call that he was in the Byron Nelson as an alternate about 18 hours before his tee time.
Scheffler made the turn in 29 on his way to a 10-under 61 for a two-shot lead over Rico Hoey and Jhonattan Vegas, with Champ among seven players another shot back at 64.
Defending champion Taylor Pendrith shot 67 with players allowed to lift, clean and replace their shots in the fairways after the par-71 TPC Craig Ranch got heavy rainfall Wednesday.
The top-ranked Scheffler outshined fellow hometown star Jordan Spieth with the former Texas Longhorns paired together along with Si Woo Kim, a South Korean who also calls Dallas home and was showcased in an event sponsored by CJ Group, a conglomerate based in his home country.
Kim shot 67, capping his round with a lofty chip-in for eagle at the par-5 18th and rolling onto his back in celebration. Spieth is 2 under. Vegas, another Texas alum, had a bogey-free round along with Scheffler and Hoey.
The others at 7 under with Champ are Stephan Jaeger, Michael Thorbjornsen, Eric Cole, Andrew Putnam, Patton Kizzire and Will Gordon.
Scheffler missed last year's event in Dallas' northern suburb of McKinney for the birth of his first child, son Bennett.
“Jordan and I love playing here. This tournament has meant a lot to us over the years,” Scheffler said. “Obviously last year I was missing for some pretty good reasons. I wasn't too sad about what was going on in my life at the time.”
Back then, he had 10 wins combined before May over a three-year stretch, including the Masters and Players Championship twice each. Now, Scheffler is still seeking the first victory of 2025.
Not that he was playing poorly before posting his lowest round of the year. Scheffler finished fourth as the defending champion at Augusta and has four other top-10 finishes this year.
“I wouldn't say anxious or eager, anything like that,” the 13-time winner said of seeking his first victory in 2025. “I got off to a pretty good start today, and there's three more days of the tournament. Just focused on going home and getting some rest.”
Scheffler birdied four consecutive holes on the front nine and added one more before putting his approach at the par-5 ninth inside 5 feet for an eagle to get to 7 under.
A chip for birdie stopped on the lip at the par-4 11th, the second of three consecutive pars before he pulled even with Hoey with a birdie at 13. Scheffler took the lead by putting his tee shot on the stadium hole — the par-3 17th — inside 3 feet.
Hoey, a 29-year-old from the Philippines seeking his first PGA Tour victory, started with eight pars on the back nine before an eagle on 18 triggered an 8-under finish over his final 10 holes. His 63 tied his career low on the PGA Tour. Hoey's best finish this year also was in Texas, a tie for 11th at the Houston Open.
“It’s been up and down, but from the start of the last season and comparing it, I think I’m doing a way better job,” said Hoey, who won on the Canadian tour in 2017 and the Korn Ferry circuit two years ago. “Just feel like there are rounds I’ve been clicking; other rounds I haven’t put it up. Kind of nice to get the momentum rolling now.”
Champ, who lives in Houston and played at Texas A&M, was home when he got the call that he was replacing Gary Woodland, who withdrew. He made it to the Dallas area Wednesday night and countered two bogeys in his first three holes with nine birdies.
The 29-year-old from California won three times from 2019-21 but missed 35 of 55 cuts over the previous two years. This is just his fourth start of 2025.
“Considering last year, how many cuts I missed by one, it was like 11 or 12 or something, I haven’t really been playing that bad,” Champ said. “The last two years is probably the hardest I’ve ever worked. Feel like my physical abilities are there. It’s just getting back to the right mental state.”
Spieth and Danny Walker had to pause to clean spikes after wayward tee shots into muddy territory. Walker's cleaning delay lasted several minutes, including others helping by splashing the soles with bottled water.
Walker, playing in the group ahead of Spieth, ended up with a bogey on the par-4 11th on his way to a 68. Spieth scrambled for a par-4 at No. 3 after barely missing the water while putting his tee shot in a waste area.
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Cameron Champ watches his shot off the ninth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Si Woo Kim hits off the sixth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Jordan Spieth, left, and Scottie Scheffler, right, walk the sixth fairway together during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Jordan Spieth follows through on his shot off the sixth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Rico Hoey, right, and his caddie approach the 8th green during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Scottie Scheffler watches his drive on the sixth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
