American Acting As Agent For China Recruited Sources In This NoVA Area

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA – A man has pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for China in the U.S., with Loudoun County as the site of his offenses.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Thomas Weir Pauken II, 50, agreed to a deal in which he pleaded guilty to a single charge of acting as an agent for a foreign government, in this case, the government of China.

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Court documents say that Pauken had acted on the direction of individuals he knew or believed to be working for Chinese intelligence services since at least 2019. A person described as one of Pauken’s handlers paid for several trips he took to the U.S. between 2019 and 2025, spending $7,000 to $8,000 per trip. They say Pauken received at least $100,000 for his work for this person, whom he believed to be working for Chinese security or intelligence agencies.

Pauken's work included recruiting American contacts who might be able to provide classified information for his Chinese contacts and providing technology and access credentials to these contacts to put them more directly in touch with his Chinese contacts. These recruitment meetings took place in the Washington metro area, and Pauken's offences are identified as taking place in Loudoun County.

Pauken also supplied reports for other individuals in China whom he believed to be working for the Chinese government, and worked for a time for a group that he believed was connected to Chinese state security bodies, and which sought information about the U.S. Justice Department and cyber espionage. Pauken stopped working for that group when they asked him to commit espionage.

Court documents say Pauken never registered under the U.S.’ notoriously vague Foreign Agents Registration Act. Individuals who are working on behalf of a foreign government in the United States are required to register with the Justice Department, though many have argued that language in the Act is overbroad and encompasses activities people would not consider to be advocacy for a foreign state.

However, while Pauken himself was not accused of supplying any classified information to a foreign government, or even seeking to, he admitted to entering into an agreement with China’s Ministry of State Security to recruit individuals to supply that kind of information to China. He conveyed his Chinese contacts’ desires for classified information to American contacts who might have had access to that kind of information.

Pauken had lived in China for about 15 years at the time of his arrest. He said he hoped his work would prevent any military confrontation between the U.S. and China and could help expand religious freedoms in China.

Pauken's sentencing will be on September 1. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.