ALEXANDRIA, Va.—An American who worked with Chinese intelligence for years and worked for Chinese state media has been sentenced to two years in prison for acting as a Chinese agent.
The 51-year-old was arrested in February, days after trying to recruit a Trump administration official for his handler.
In the sentencing hearing on Sept. 1, U.S. prosecutor Eli Ross described the case as “emblematic” of Chinese espionage.
He said that Pauken had acted out of a “conscious decision” even though he “knew what was right.” He noted Chinese news media articles under Pauken’s name and the deletion of communication records to evade U.S. detection.
Despite a 2025 FBI warning, Ross noted, Pauken had continued working for Chinese authorities and offered a $10,000 bonus to cultivate his source for Beijing.
Related Stories
“He did it for money; he did it for prestige,” Ross said. “He chose this path, and he got caught.”
Pauken, in a dark green jail uniform, said he wasn’t disputing the facts.
During these months of solitary confinement, he said, he spent every day thinking about the damage he had done to his country.
“I learned a lot of secrets, and I did tell the Chinese about these secrets,” Pauken said.
Pauken moved to China around 2010 and has since worked for multiple major Chinese state media agencies, including dominant broadcaster China Central Television and its overseas division, CGTN. Court records show that he has made six trips to the United States since 2019, staying for days to weeks at a time.
Pauken’s attorney, Charles Burnham, said his client wasn’t motivated by money.
After a difficult childhood, Pauken “needed a clean slate,” and “China gave him that,” he told Judge Leonie Brinkema.
Pauken, he said, believed in improving the U.S.–China relations, and the Chinese intelligence officers exploited that.
Burnham argued that $100,000 over a seven-year period was “not life-changing.”
The judge disagreed, saying that “$100,000 goes pretty far in China.”
Prosecutors had pushed for a 36-month sentence. In court documents, they said Pauken and his wife purchased two apartments for a combined total of $400,000 in 2023 and once took a Beijing-sponsored all-expense family vacation.
Pauken choked up when recalling his wife and son, both in China. In June, his wife’s U.S. visa extension was rejected, he said.
“I’m very sorry for everything,” he said.
Brinkema acknowledged the “very unfortunate” situation.
Often, the real victims are not those behind bars but their family members, the judge said.
“It’s a sad reality of the justice system,” she said.
Pauken will undergo three years of supervised release following imprisonment. The judge forbade him from traveling overseas during the period.
“Mr. Pauken has accepted responsibility and respects the court’s sentence. As the government agreed in court today, Mr. Pauken did not provide any classified information to the Chinese,” Burnham told The Epoch Times in a statement.
Pauken’s father, Thomas Pauken, was present at the hearing. He led a federal task force managing domestic volunteer programs during the Reagan administration and later chaired the Texas Republican Party.
The elder Pauken declined to comment upon walking out of the courtroom.
