Navy sailor convicted of selling warship secrets to China for just $12,000
By isabelle // 2025-08-22
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  • A U.S. Navy machinist’s mate was convicted of espionage for selling military secrets to China for just $12,000 over 18 months.
  • Encrypted messages and texts to his mother proved he knowingly betrayed his country for cash.
  • This follows another Navy sailor’s 2023 conviction for a similar scheme, raising concerns about systemic espionage vulnerabilities.
  • While low-level traitors face harsh penalties, high-ranking elites often escape accountability for far worse betrayals.
  • Wei’s sentencing is set for December 2025, but the bigger question remains: Who else has been compromised?
What would you do for $12,000? For most Americans, that’s a used car, a vacation, or maybe a few months of rent. For Jinchao Wei, a 25-year-old U.S. Navy machinist’s mate, it was the price of betraying his country. A federal jury in San Diego just convicted Wei of espionage for selling sensitive military secrets to a Chinese intelligence officer over 18 months. The information he handed over—technical manuals, ship vulnerabilities, and operational details—could have put American lives at risk. And for what? A paltry sum that barely registers compared to the damage he may have caused.

A betrayal for cash

Wei, stationed aboard the USS Essex at Naval Base San Diego, was no high-ranking officer. He was a machinist’s mate, a role that gave him access to classified materials—materials he knowingly passed to a Chinese handler. According to prosecutors, the intelligence officer first approached Wei in February 2022, posing as a naval enthusiast. Wei wasn’t fooled for long. In a message to a friend, he admitted, “This is quite obviously espionage.” Yet he proceeded anyway, using encrypted apps to share documents, photos, and even descriptions of U.S. Marine training exercises. The evidence against him was damning. Phone records, encrypted messages, and even a text to his mother revealed his full awareness of the crime. “Other Chinese serving in the US Navy are still trying to figure out how to make extra money, and driving cabs,” he wrote. “Whereas I am just leaking secrets.” His mother’s response? “Good job!” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon didn’t mince words: “The defendant’s actions represent an egregious betrayal of the trust placed in him as a member of the U.S. military. By trading military secrets to the People’s Republic of China for cash, he jeopardized not only the lives of his fellow sailors but also the security of the entire nation and our allies.”

A pattern of espionage

Wei isn’t the first U.S. service member to fall into this trap. Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, another sailor arrested alongside Wei in 2023, was sentenced last year to 27 months in prison for a similar scheme. Zhao had sold photos, radar blueprints, and operational plans to Chinese intelligence for bribes totaling $14,800. The question isn’t just about individual greed; it’s about systemic vulnerabilities. How many more service members are being targeted? How many have already been compromised? The Chinese government has made no secret of its aggressive intelligence-gathering efforts, and the U.S. military remains a prime target. Here’s what makes this case particularly infuriating: While Wei faces life in prison for selling secrets, how many high-ranking officials—politicians, bureaucrats, corporate elites—have gotten away with far worse? We live in an era where billionaire globalists openly collude with foreign adversaries, where government agencies weaponize surveillance against American citizens, and where pharmaceutical executives push deadly experimental injections with zero accountability. Yet a 25-year-old sailor selling ship manuals for pocket change gets the full weight of the Espionage Act? Where’s the consistency? Where’s the justice for the real traitors—the ones who’ve spent decades undermining America from within? China’s intelligence operations are relentless. They exploit weaknesses, whether financial, ideological, or personal. And while Wei’s actions were undeniably treasonous, they’re also a symptom of a much larger problem: a military and government apparatus that has lost sight of its core mission.

What’s next?

Wei’s sentencing is set for December 1, 2025. His lawyer, Sean Jones, claims Wei was “manipulated” and had no anti-American intent—just poor judgment. But the jury didn’t buy it. Neither should the American people. The real lesson here? Espionage isn’t just a Cold War relic. It’s happening now, in broad daylight, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. If a low-level sailor can be turned for $12,000, what’s stopping someone higher up the chain from doing far worse? Sources for this article include: TheNationalPulse.com NYTimes.com BBC.com
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