Chinese Nationals Face New Charges

Prosecutors said Tuesday that they plan to file more serious charges against three people accused of failing to register as agents of the Chinese government.

Speaking through his spokesman, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gregory Staples said the government intends to seek a new federal indictment in a matter of weeks against Chi Mak, 66, of Downey, his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, 62, and his brother Tai Wang Mak of Alhambra. Staples would not say what the charges would be.

Prosecutors initially alleged that the three were passing military technology to China. Chi Mak is accused of taking information from an Anaheim military contractor, Power Paragon, where he worked, and giving it to his brother for transmission to the Chinese government.

The three were arrested in October, but the data the defendants are accused of passing turned out not to be classified. In a subsequent indictment, prosecutors dropped those charges but accused the three of failing to register as foreign agents.

The military technology Chi Mak is accused of stealing included information on warships, a naval nuclear reactor and submarine propulsion systems, authorities said.

Federal agents arrested Tai Mak and his wife, Fuk Heung Li, as they were about to depart on a midnight flight from Los Angeles International Airport to China.

Li was charged in a separate criminal complaint for allegedly participating in a marriage fraud scheme to help foreign nationals gain citizenship.

Defense attorney John Early, who represents Tai Mak, wasn’t surprised to hear prosecutors planned to file more charges.

“Nothing in life completely surprises me. The government will do what it has to do and the defense will respond,” he said.

Chiu’s and Chi Mak’s attorneys echoed Early’s sentiment.