Thomas Weir Pauken II, 50, an American citizen who lived and worked in China, pleaded guilty Thursday to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the People’s Republic of China, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Pauken worked under the direction of people he knew were tied to China’s Ministry of State Security, starting no later than 2019 and continuing through February 2026, court documents show. He is scheduled for sentencing September 1 in the Eastern District of Virginia and faces up to 10 years in prison, the Justice Department said.
Pauken, who wrote under the name Tom McGregor, had lived in China since 2010 and worked for several state media organizations there, according to the Associated Press. He used the pen name to distance himself from his father of the same name, who served as chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and later ran for governor, the AP reported.
According to court documents, a contact Pauken met in 2017, identified only as “Cathy,” directed him to meet with potential intelligence assets in the United States, supply them with devices to communicate with her, and relay their reports back to her. Pauken received at least $100,000 for his work and was paid to travel multiple times between China and the U.S. from 2019 through 2025.
“Not only did Thomas Pauken attempt to infiltrate U.S. political circles at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security, but he gathered intelligence on his American targets and reported it back to his Chinese intelligence handlers,” said FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
Court documents also describe Pauken working with two other China-based contacts known as “Richard” and “William,” who told him their reports went to Japan, though Pauken believed they worked for the Chinese government. He also sold reports to clients from Wuhan seeking information on technology and the Justice Department and wanted him to help facilitate cyber espionage.
The FBI Philadelphia Field Office led the investigation with assistance from the Washington Field Office. Trial Attorney Eli Ross of the National Security Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gavin R. Tisdale are prosecuting the case.
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