Jun Wei Yeo, also referred to as Dickson Yeo, pleaded guilty in the United States on July 24 on the charges of acting as an “illegal agent” of a foreign power with in the country. Yeo’s plea was made via video conference in the US District Court in the District of Columbia.

Jun Wei Yeo, a student pursuing his Doctorate from The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, was invited to give a presentation to Chinese academics in Beijing in 2015 according to a BBC report. Yeo whose doctorate research was about Chinese Foreign Policy, later became embroiled in an act of espionage for the Chinese government.

Yeo was approached by several people representing Chinese think tanks after his presentation in Beijing who were willing to pay for sensitive information. Yeo was asked to provide “political reports and information” by these people. While he was at first asked to provide information about South East Asian nations, the focus later turned to the key information pertaining the US government, according to a BBC report.

Yeo, however, had realised that the people he reported too were Chinese intelligence agents in spite of the revelations he stayed in touch with the agents stated a BBC report.

Yeo would go on to use career networking sites like LinkedIn and would also create a false consulting firm to lure Americans who were of interest to the Chinese government. Also, he used the cover of a curious academic to evade attention and further lure targets.

Alan E. Kohler Jr., Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division has said that, “At the direction of Chinese intelligence operatives, the defendant (Yeo) targeted U.S. government employees and an Army officer to obtain information for the government of China. Mr. Yeo admits he set up a fake consulting company to further his scheme, looked for susceptible individuals who were vulnerable to recruitment, and tried to avoid detection by U.S. authorities.”

Yeo who pleaded guilty to the charges, now faces up to 10 years in prison.