Washington — American journalist Thomas Weir Pauken II has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting he acted inside the United States as an agent of a foreign government, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Pauken, 51, pleaded guilty earlier this year and does not intend to appeal, his defense attorney, Charles Burnham, said. In addition to the prison term, Pauken received 36 months of supervised release and is barred from overseas travel during that period, the department said in a news release on Tuesday. He was arrested in February.
The prosecution adds to a growing list of federal cases targeting individuals accused of assisting the Chinese government without making the required disclosures, at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing remain strained.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the release that Pauken “betrayed his country for money” by supporting “Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations, recruiting, and gathering of sensitive information from potential assets.”
“The National Security Division is committed to holding accountable anyone who aids or abets Chinese espionage efforts,” Eisenberg added.
Pauken moved to China in 2010 and went on to work as a journalist for several Chinese media outlets, including state broadcaster CCTV. Most recently, he served as an editor for Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, a job he had held since 2024.
Burnham said his client “has accepted responsibility and respects the court’s sentence,” while noting that “as the government agreed in court, Mr. Pauken did not provide any classified information to the Chinese.”
Court records say Pauken operated from at least 2019 until February 2026 under the direction of people he knew were working for China’s government. One of them, a person he met in 2017 and identified as “Cathy,” allegedly told him that his reports were read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a Feb. 27 federal court affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Timothy J. Healy.
Pauken received at least $100,000 for his work with “Cathy,” the department said.
In addition to writing reports, Pauken was asked by “Cathy” to recruit people to provide classified information. In one case, Pauken was instructed to meet with a person identified in the affidavit as “Person 1” and provide the person a Samsung phone, a computer, and passwords for Signal and Telegram, as well as NetDisk.
Pauken was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents when he returned to the U.S. in January 2025. In interviews with CBP and FBI agents, Pauken said he was “80 percent sure” that the person who was seeking a job in the Trump administration would provide classified information to China, although Pauken advised the person not to, according to the affidavit.
Pauken also told investigators “Cathy” would usually pay for his trips to the U.S. through the years, and often wired payments to his wife’s bank accounts, the affidavit said.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t immediately respond on Wednesday to a request seeking comment.
Pauken, a Texas native, used the alias of Tom McGregor when working as a commentator and writer at the request of his father, who shares his name and wanted to distance himself from his son’s work in China.
The younger Pauken published two books under his real name, Thomas W. Pauken II. One was published in 2019 about U.S.-China relations and another in 2023 about Shenzhen, a city across from Hong Kong in mainland China.
Pauken’s father was a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and ran for governor more than a decade ago.
In the most recent publicly visible Facebook post under McGregor’s name, Pauken shared photos of his wife and child on a trip, writing “My family and I enjoying our trip to Washington DC.” He was arrested later that month.
