American journalist sentenced for acting as foreign agent
WASHINGTON — An American journalist has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government within the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said, reports BritPanorama.
Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, pleaded guilty earlier this year and is not planning to appeal, according to his defense lawyer, Charles Burnham. Pauken also received 36 months of supervised release, restricting any overseas travel, as noted in a news release from the department. He was arrested in February.
This case continues a trend of federal prosecutions against individuals accused of clandestinely working for the Chinese government, reflecting ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing. “Pauken betrayed his country for money” by supporting “Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations, recruiting, and gathering of sensitive information from potential assets,” stated Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg in the news release.
Pauken worked for various Chinese news organizations after relocating to China in 2010, including state broadcaster CCTV and, most recently, Xinhua, China’s state news agency, beginning in 2024. His lawyer confirmed that “Mr. Pauken has accepted responsibility and respects the court’s sentence,” adding that “as the government agreed in court, Mr. Pauken did not provide any classified information to the Chinese.”
According to court documents, from at least 2019 until February 2026, Pauken operated under the direction of individuals he knew to be associated with the Chinese government, including someone identified as “Cathy.” In a federal court affidavit, it was claimed that reports he contributed to were read by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Pauken reportedly received at least $100,000 for his work with “Cathy,” and aside from writing reports, was instructed to recruit individuals to provide classified information. In one incident, he was directed to meet with an individual labeled “Person 1” to hand over a Samsung phone, a computer, and passwords for Signal and Telegram, as well as NetDisk.
Pauken was intercepted by Customs and Border Protection agents upon his return to the U.S. in January 2025. During interviews, he indicated he was “80 percent sure” that a job-seeker in the Trump administration would have provided classified information to China, although he advised against it. He also disclosed that “Cathy” typically financed his trips to the U.S. over the years, frequently sending payments to his wife’s bank accounts.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Pauken, a Texas native, had worked under the alias Tom McGregor at the behest of his father, who wished to distance himself from his son’s work in China.
The younger Pauken authored two books: one in 2019 regarding U.S.-China relations and another in 2023 focused on Shenzhen, a city adjacent to Hong Kong. His father was once the chairman of the Texas Republican Party during the 1990s and had a gubernatorial run over a decade ago.
In his last publicly seen Facebook post under the McGregor name, Pauken shared family photos from a trip, stating, “My family and I enjoying our trip to Washington DC.” He was arrested later that month.
