JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Former Navy lieutenant received a four year prison sentence on Wednesday afternoon for providing firearms to a Chinese national as well as lying about his contact with that same Chinese businessman.
Fan Yang asked for a lighter sentence of time served but a federal judge denied it, citing what he called the defendant’s repeated perjury throughout the trial and his deliberate deception of military investigators and federal agents. Yang has been in custody since October 2019.
Yang must also serve three years probation with a special condition that he have no contact with any agents or representatives of a foreign government.
Yang was the fourth person to be sentenced in connection with the case.
Federal prosecutors dismissed the original indictment on Wednesday. Yang's codefendants plead guilty to charges stemming from a plan to export military rubber rafts and American-made outboard motors to China, with the plan to reverse engineer the engines and sell them to the Chinese government.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 51 months compared to the 48 that the judge ordered.
The FBI released the following statement regarding the sentencing;
"Lt. Fan Yang swore an oath to protect this country, but instead he posed a significant risk to U.S. national security when he failed to report his contact with the head of a Chinese Defense Contracting firm. This act was even more egregious considering Lt. Yang's Top Secret security clearance and active-duty status as an officer in the U.S. Navy. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to use our full investigative capabilities to investigate, expose, and prevent further threats to U.S. national security posed by foreign competitors and adversaries
- Special Agent in Charge Sherri E. Onks of FBI Jacksonville"