NEW YORK — A former New York police sergeant was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison in a U.S. case about China’s pursuit of critics abroad, a sentence that came after two members of Congress urged the judge to spare him from time behind bars.
Michael McMahon was convicted in 2023 of contributing to a transcontinental pressure campaign aimed at getting a former Chinese city official to leave the U.S. and return to his homeland. The tactics ranged from Facebook messages to a threatening real-world note on the man’s New Jersey door.
During an hourslong sentencing, McMahon said he was “unwittingly used” by Chinese operatives when he took what he thought was a routine private investigation job in 2016.
“I never thought for one minute I was working for China, stalking anyone. Yet now I’ve lost everything,” McMahon said. “This is such a nightmare.”
He was among 10 people charged in the federal case, which spurred the first trial stemming from U.S. claims about China’s decade-old “Operation Fox Hunt” initiative. Beijing says it’s about bringing corrupt officials and other criminal fugitives to justice; Washington deems it an exercise in threatening and harassing dissidents across borders.
U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen said McMahon aided “a campaign of transnational repression “ that harmed the targeted man, his family and the United States.
“This type of crime really does threaten our country’s national security,” Chen said. She said the retired New York Police Department officer ignored clear trouble signs when he agreed in 2016 to help find a man named Xu Jin.
Xu, a former official in the city of Wuhan, left China in 2010. Authorities there have accused Xu and his wife of bribery, which they deny. Xu’s wife testified that he was unjustly targeted for rankling the Chinese power structure.
China doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S., so China couldn’t legally force Xu’s return. But he was repeatedly and insidiously pressed to return.
At one point, his octogenarian father was abruptly flown in from China to press him to go back, according to trial evidence. Later, a threatening note was taped to his door telling him to go to prison in China to ensure his family’s well-being.
Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement Thursday that the ex-officer “went rogue and dishonorably engaged in a scheme at the direction of the People’s Republic of China.” China denies threatening people to make them return.
Through his lawyer, McMahon acknowledged searching law enforcement and government databases and conducting surveillance to gather information on Xu. But the former officer maintained he was told the investigation was for a Chinese construction company hoping to recover embezzled money.
McMahon and his attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, acknowledged Thursday that the investigator missed “red flags.” But his clients deceived him, he didn’t anticipate the things they did to badger Xu, and he wouldn’t have taken the $11,000 job if he had known about China’s alleged involvement, Lustberg insisted, calling McMahon a patriot.
The claim of transnational repression “horrifies him as much as anybody,” Lustberg said.
McMahon, 57, shook his head as the details of his conviction — on charges including acting as an illegal foreign agent and stalking — were recounted. At other points, he wiped his eyes, particularly when his attorney mentioned the death last week of one of McMahon’s eight siblings.
Dozens of his relatives and friends filled benches in the courthouse, and some yelled “shame on you!” and similar remarks at prosecutors as they left the court.
McMahon himself declined to comment. He’s due to report to prison in June, though the date may be extended.
His lawyer said the judge issued “a thoughtful sentence,” adding: “It’s always tragic when someone who’s innocent, and I do think he’s innocent, is sentenced to prison.”
Five people charged in the case remain at large, believed to be in China. Three others pleaded guilty, and co-defendants Zheng Congying and Zhu Yong were convicted alongside McMahon at trial.
Zhu, whose role included helping to hire McMahon, was sentenced to two years behind bars. Zheng, who affixed the note to Xu’s door, got 16 months in prison.
McMahon drew support from U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Pete Sessions, both Republicans.
In a June 2024 letter included in a court filing this month, they said they believed McMahon is innocent. Lauding his work and many commendations as an officer before a 2001 injury ended his 14-year NYPD career, the lawmakers asked the judge to consider his “unique circumstances” and not sentence him to prison.
