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US court sentences Chinese spy

Tuesday, February 09, 2010
WASHINGTON: A Chinese-born engineer convicted of espionage and other federal charges in California has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung was sentenced yesterday in Santa Ana after a judge ruled in July he hoarded sensitive information about the US space shuttle and a booster rocket with the intent to pass it to China. It was the United States' first trial on economic espionage charges.

The government believes Chung, 74, began spying for the Chinese in the late 1970s. Prosecutors say the stress analyst used his 30-year career at Boeing Co. and Rockwell International to collect 300,000 pages of sensitive documents.

Chung has been in custody since he was convicted of economic espionage, acting as a foreign agent, conspiracy and lying to federal agents.

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