An American who worked for the military intelligence service pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that he gave China confidential and classified information regarding US defense, including documents on equipment, military tactics and strategies.
Corbin Scholtz, a classified noncommissioned officer, was arrested in March at Fort Campbell, a military base in eastern Kentucky.
He pleaded guilty to, among other charges, disclosure of information. related to national defense, extracted confidential data related to military equipment without authorization, and for corruption of a public official, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
According to the filings, the serviceman paid dozens of confidential U.S. military documents to a person living in Hong Kong with alleged ties to the Chinese government.
He received $42,000 for the data, according to the documents. the Ministry of Justice.
Among the documents he sent to China was a report on lessons learned by the US military from the war in Ukraine, which could be applied to the defense of Taiwan, an island that Beijing considers a Chinese province.
Other documents contained analyzes of Chinese military tactics, US military exercises in South Korea and the Philippines, or even weapons systems such as the HH-60 helicopter and the F-22 low-observability fighter jet.
“Governments like this of China are aggressively targeting our military personnel and our national security information, and we will do everything within our power to guarantee the protection of that information from hostile foreign governments,” said Robert Wells, FBI Executive Assistant Director (federal police).
Corbin Scholz now faces the prospect of decades in prison. A hearing was set for January 23, 2025.
His arrest follows that of two Marines in California, who were accused of spying for China a year earlier.
