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China The Courts United States

After Being Wrongfully Accused of Spying for China, Professor Wins Appeal To Sue the Government 89

Posted by msmash from the nobody-above-the-law dept.
Xiaoxing Xi, a Temple University professor who was falsely accused of spying for China, will be able to bring a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation. From a report: A judge at a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Xi on Wednesday, allowing the physicist to move forward with his case against the U.S. government for wrongful prosecution and violating his family's constitutional rights by engaging in unlawful search, seizure and surveillance. The decision comes after FBI agents swarmed Xi's Philadelphia home in 2015, rounded up his family at gunpoint, and arrested him on fraud charges related to economic espionage, before abruptly dropping the charges months afterward.

"I'm very, very glad that we can finally put the government under oath to explain why they decided to do what they did, violating our constitutional rights," Xi said in an exclusive interview with NBC News. "We finally have an opportunity to hold them accountable." The case will now be kicked back to the district court, continuing a long legal battle. Xi, who's represented in part by the American Civil Liberties Union, attempted to bring a suit against the government in 2017, alleging that FBI agents "made knowingly or recklessly false statements" to support their investigation and prosecution. Xi also claimed that his arrest was discriminatory, and that he was targeted due to his ethnicity, much like other scholars of Chinese descent. A district court dismissed his case in 2021, but Xi appealed the decision last year.
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After Being Wrongfully Accused of Spying for China, Professor Wins Appeal To Sue the Government More

After Being Wrongfully Accused of Spying for China, Professor Wins Appeal To Sue the Government

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  • Most likely yet another bungled doxing (Score:3)

    by evanh ( 627108 ) on Monday May 29, 2023 @05:25PM (#63559927)

    FBI got fooled by a racist accusation and doesn't want to admit it.

  • One nit to pick (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday May 29, 2023 @05:39PM (#63559959)

    "Xi also claimed that his arrest was discriminatory, and that he was targeted due to his ethnicity, much like other scholars of Chinese descent. A district court dismissed his case in 2021, but Xi appealed the decision last year."

    To many readers, "of Chinese descent" implies Xiaoxing Xi was born in America - however he was born and raised in China (and graduated from Peking University) [wikipedia.org]. Especially given what we know about Chinese spying against the US and other western countries, I don't believe it's unreasonable or discriminatory to closely follow up on allegations of spying under these circumstances... assuming they did due diligence to verify the allegations weren't specious.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Sique ( 173459 )
      Conjecture is not a suspicion, and suspicion is no proof.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        For the true believers, conjecture is enough to hang somebody if that somebody has the wrong genetic makeup. Despicable and repulsive racism? Sure. Widespread? Unfortunately as well. Usually it is just somebody that is rather pathetic that wants to elevate themselves at the cost of others they perceive as inferior. You know, people that would kick puppies and laugh about it.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shaitan ( 22585 )

          But as the GP pointed out, national origin and not genetics were the factor here. And there was more than suspicion at play, he WAS sharing technology with China, they just couldn't prove it was the technology they believed.

          It shouldn't matter who you are, aiding China in any form of advancement is definitely morally and ethically repugnant at this point whether it is also illegal or not.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            He was sharing his own, non-secret tech in a research collaboration. As you could have known if you had bothered to find out.

            aiding China in any form of advancement is definitely morally and ethically repugnant at this point

            Oh? Say, as repugnant as aiding the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons against civilians and that did do so without any military need? The same nation that just recently elected a president that seriously asked why nuclear weapons could not be used again offensively? That level of repugnant?

            You are deeply confined in idology. China is mostly just people that want to get through t

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Shaitan ( 22585 )

              "He was sharing his own, non-secret tech in a research collaboration. As you could have known if you had bothered to find out."

              I don't recall indicating otherwise.

              "Oh? Say, as repugnant as aiding the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons against civilians and that did do so without any military need?"

              I'd say it is far more repugnant to aid a nation engaged in active genocide, annexation of its neighbors, and openly ramping up its war machine than to aid a nation which used a bomb against the axis powers w

            • While I'm not here to argue for or against your argument as I just don't have enough evidence to go one way or the other, I just want to note that while it is true Chinese citizens mostly just want to go about their day, China's government does have a history of using average individuals to further their agenda (for one instance, see: wumao). In America, such programs would become huge scandals, but in China this is business as usual. As a Chinese person, I find that Chinese leadership tends to drum up nati

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Shaitan ( 22585 )

                "This has a broad effect of having disseminated a strong feeling of nationalism amongst the Chinese population, which some have come to argue for as "brain washing" but I feel like its more like pride."

                The Chinese state is essentially a dictatorship. Whether you choose to interpret the result of the states strict information control and manipulation among the populace as brain washing or not I agree that the message and result is not only nationalist but also carries a strong ethnic overtone. In the stories

    • due diligence to verify the allegations weren't specious.

      Their due diligence was that his name is Xi.

    • Re:One nit to pick (Score:5, Insightful)

      by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday May 29, 2023 @06:53PM (#63560065) Journal

      I don't believe it's unreasonable or discriminatory to closely follow up on allegations of spying under these circumstances

      America is a country with rule of law, and there are legal ways to "follow up" and illegal ways to "follow up." Now the FBI gets a chance to prove they were doing it legally. If they weren't doing it legally, then that's a problem.

      • America is a country with rule of law, and there are legal ways to "follow up" and illegal ways to "follow up." Now the FBI gets a chance to prove they were doing it legally. If they weren't doing it legally, then that's a problem.

        I agree. And part of that rule of law was designed to correct problems when they occur - which is why this guy is has the right to take the FBI to court and attempt to prove his case.

        On the other hand, when things get cloaked in secrecy - e.g. with the FISA court - abuses can feed back on themselves because there is no good check (I don't consider one secret judge signing off on things to be much of a check).

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Shaitan ( 22585 )

          Even with the secret court it has been shown they lie and fail to disclose things to the court, claiming need to know. We desperately need a law firmly establishing that a court justice reviewing a case has automatic exemption from any executive information controls for the matter they are reviewing and dependent matters. The court always needs to know, is always cleared, and auto-included for any eyes-only designation.

          We also need personal consequences for attempting to hide things from judicial scrutiny..

    • closely follow up on allegations of spying

      The whole point is that they didn't do that.
      Had they done that they would have either found some evidence, or left the guy alone. They did neither.

      assuming they did due diligence

      Why would you assume something so clearly and obviously wrong?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It doesn't seem right that the government can "verify" these allegations by rounding up a family at gunpoint, doing an extensive search of their property, and then dropping the charges months later because they presumably didn't find anything.

      There have to be limited on what the government can do to investigate, because investigations are disruptive, and the threat of spurious charges hanging over someone is highly detrimental to their life.

      It doesn't matter where they were born or what their ethnicity is.

      • Given the type of crime described... even if the guy was guilty as sin, it seems absurd guns were involved at all. I can't see how there'd be a worry about the situation escalating dangerously.

        But the other side of this is... at the moment we've only heard one side, and it's the side of the person bringing the lawsuit. Hopefully we'll hear more of the story as this lawsuit develops.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        It does matter where he was born. That alone is circumstantial evidence of mixed loyalties. Clearly they had evidence he exchanged technology with Chinese researchers and had access to sensitive information. That alone seems like more than reasonable justification to round him up and interrogate him. It isn't as if there is any ethically sound reason to aiding ANY advancement of a genocidal regime.

        They probably charged him a bit too soon but that alone shouldn't win his case.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Have you ever heard what happened to Japanese Americans during WW2? It's widely regarded as an injustice.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Shaitan ( 22585 )

            Yes I'm aware. It isn't similar, related, or otherwise relevant but I'm aware of it.

            Unless of course you are suggesting the basis was evidence of an active connection to and advancement of Japan and the camps were replaced by 72hr holds for questioning.

    • discrimination is a part of thinking

  • put the government under oath to explain why they decided to do what they did

    Lol no. If PapersPlease [papersplease.org] has taught me anything, it's that the government will never explain why they do what they do, especially in cases where they are "abruptly dropping the charges".

    • put the government under oath to explain why they decided to do what they did

      Lol no. If PapersPlease [papersplease.org] has taught me anything, it's that the government will never explain why they do what they do, especially in cases where they are "abruptly dropping the charges".

      Are corporate weasels any different? Is anybody? All humans have an ingrained instinct to cover their ass and weasel out of suffering the consequences of their fuckups. Very few people have the strength to overcome our inner sonovabitch and take responsibility for their mistakes.

      • Ok, yes, that's human nature but we're talking about the government here.

        When there's a big enough fuckup in government the result is not punishment, it's a promotion.

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