U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzmán in the Northern District of Illinois recently issued an opinion in United States v. Ji Chaoqun, 1:18-cr-611 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 22, 2022), ECF No. 368. The publicly available opinion helps fill an important gap in 18 U.S.C. §951, which criminalizes acting in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the attorney general.
Section 951 defines “agent of a foreign government” as “an individual who agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official.” But, as the well-reasoned, and well-sourced, opinion sets forth, the statute has several exceptions that were added decades after it was first enacted. Three are narrowly defined and include diplomats, other official representatives, and employees. The fourth is a little broader, and excludes “any person engaged in a legal commercial transaction.”
