Jury: Jacksonville Navy officer guilty of gun crimes to help Chinese business executive
Jurors convicted a Jacksonville-based U.S. Navy officer Friday of federal gun crimes, conspiracy and lying about his relationship with a Chinese business executive who’s now in prison for export crimes.
Lt. Fan Yang, 36, was indicted in 2019 with three other people after investigators used special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants to gather information about the gun-loving executive, Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. Chairman Ge Songtao.
The others all took plea deals but Yang insisted on his innocence and stood trial the past two weeks on charges that were separate from the export scheme that put Ge behind bars.
Yang, a Chinese-born American citizen, was convicted of making “straw purchases” of two pistols so Ge, an eager gun enthusiast, would have weapons to fire at shooting ranges during business trips he made to the United State two or three times a year.
Read more: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/courts/2021/11/12/nas-jacksonville-officer-convicted-trial-tied-chinese-executive/6400396001/