Chicago – June 05, 2026
An American journalist who has lived in China since 2010 and worked for several state media organizations there pleaded guilty in a U.S. court Thursday to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, the Justice Department said.
Thomas Pauken II is set to be sentenced Sept. 1 in a U.S. District Court and he faces up to 10 years in jail, the department said. He writes under the name Tom McGregor to distance himself from his father with the same name, who was a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and ran for governor more than a decade ago.
It is the latest in a string of cases that the federal government has brought against people suspected of working for the Chinese government without proper disclosure.
Eileen Wang, a former mayor of Arcadia, California, agreed in May to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, including sharing articles favorable to Beijing.
