State Department employee sentenced for selling classified information to Chinese government

2025-09-05 12:35:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

State Department employee sentenced for selling classified information to

A U.S. Department of State (DOS) employee was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for conspiring to collect and transmit national defense information to individuals he believed worked for the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

“The defendant threw away his career, betrayed his country, and abused the trust the United States had placed in him by granting him a Top Secret security clearance. He will spend years of his life in prison for providing classified information to individuals he believed were agents of the Chinese government,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.

"Today's sentence serves as a warning to those who would violate the trust placed in them by our Nation and deceive the American people."

“The price of Michael Schena’s shameful betrayal of his country is far higher than the small sum for which he traded his honor,” said U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia.

"His acts of greed cost the loyal men and women of our intelligence community and the nation they serve. The cost Schena will pay is the loss of his integrity, his reputation and, with today's sentencing, his freedom."

"Michael Schena intentionally undermined U.S. national security and put American lives at risk by selling classified information to the Chinese government," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division.

“The Chinese government continues to aggressively target U.S. government employees to steal our classified information, and this conviction makes clear that the FBI and our partners will do everything in our power to protect the homeland. Anyone who considers betraying their oath to the United States should consider the serious consequences and know that the FBI will work tirelessly to bring them to justice.”

According to court documents, beginning in April 2022, Michael Charles Schena, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, communicated with people he met online through various communication platforms and offered them sensitive U.S. government information in exchange for money. Two of these individuals posed as employees of international consulting firms. Despite clear indications and the belief that they were working on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, Schena continued his relationship with them.

In August 2024, Schena met an individual at a hotel in Peru who gave Schena $10,000 and a cellphone that would be used by Schena to receive assignments and transmit information.

In October 2024, while on duty, Schena used a cell phone he obtained in Peru to photograph and transmit at least four classified documents containing national defense information that were classified at the SECRET level. In February 2025, surveillance video captured Schena again using the cell phone to photograph seven documents marked SECRET that contained national defense information. FBI agents seized the cell phone before Schena could transmit photographs of these classified documents to his handlers and arrested Schena.

John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division; and Special Agent in Charge Daniel Wierzbicki of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Cyber ??Division in the Washington Office made the announcement following the sentencing by U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff./ CNA