Yeo Jun Wei

Yeo was born and raised in Singapore. He studied at National Junior College between 1998 and 1999. Thereafter, he studied mass communications at the Oklahoma City University between 2004 and 2006. He went on to the National University of Singapore (NUS) to study for a master's degree in South East Asian studies between 2009 and 2011. He later started studying for a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy degree in 2015 at the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP). In 2019, he was granted a leave of absence from the programme. == As a People's Republic of China agent ==

Being recruited While still receiving education at LKYSPP, Yeo made a presentation on Southeast Asia's political situation at Beijing in 2015 and was approached by individuals who claimed to be China-based think tanks. They offered him money in exchange for political reports. Yeo's focus was initially Southeast Asian centric, but subsequently was switched to United States. By combing through LinkedIn, Yeo found Americans, including U.S. military and government employees with high-level security clearances, with resumes and job descriptions suggesting that they would have access to valuable non-public information which the Chinese intelligence officers seek. After he identified individuals worth targeting, Yeo followed guidance he received from Chinese intelligence operatives regarding target recruitment methods, including identifying their vulnerabilities, such as dissatisfaction with work or financial difficulties. Yeo then solicited them for non-public information and paid them to write reports. Yeo told these American targets that the reports were for clients in Asia, without revealing that they were in fact destined for the Chinese government. In 2018, Yeo created a fake consulting company that used the same name as a prominent U.S. consulting firm that conducted public and government relations, and Yeo posted job advertisements under that company name. with a guilty plea from Yeo entered on 24 July 2020 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In his plea, he admitted to the charge of "one count of acting within the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign power without first notifying the Attorney General", in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 951. Yeo was sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment on 9 October 2020 (the sentence was two months short of the original sentence the prosecutors sought in their closing submissions on sentence). The sentence was backdated to November 2019, 11 months earlier since his confinement pending his conviction by the court in view of the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (this was the same reason the judge cited for giving Yeo a lighter sentence for his crime), meaning that Yeo would have to serve three more months in prison and would be released in January 2021. Yeo was given a two-year long order of detention under the Internal Security Act on 29 January 2021, after investigations showed that in addition to Yeo's spying activities against the United States, he had tried further his information gathering activities on Singapore government as well by attempting to secure employment in a range of government jobs. Yeo had also carried out similar activities in Singapore, as he did in the United States, approaching several people with relevant knowledge and expertise via social media in order to obtain information to write reports about Singapore for his handlers in China. In January 2023, Yeo was granted a restriction order, which barred him from any form of travel out of Singapore or change addresses or jobs, without approval. In the absence of approval, Yeo was also not allowed to access the Internet or social media and make public statements etc. In January 2025, the restriction order was allowed to lapse, after the Internal Security Department (ISD) found that Yeo's threat as a foreign agent was neutralized. == International reactions ==

United States In the press release of Yeo's guilty plea, Alan E. Kohler, Jr., the assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, was quoted: "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. But this isn't just about this particular defendant. This case is yet another reminder that China is relentless in its pursuit of U.S. technology and policy information in order to advance its own interests. The FBI and our partners will be just as aggressive in uncovering these hidden efforts and charging individuals who break our laws." Singapore Singapore government officials Responding to media queries, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a statement on 26 July 2020 that it was informed by US authorities of Yeo's arrest in November 2019. Its investigations did not reveal any direct threat to Singapore's security. The MHA reminded Singaporeans of the expectations to abide by the laws of the country which they visit or reside in. Appropriate consular assistance was rendered to Yeo as required, a fact which the foreign affairs minister of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan, confirmed. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy The institution announced the termination of Yeo's PhD candidature on 26 July 2020, and removed Yeo's profile from the institution official website, after the information of Yeo's criminal act were released by the United States Department of Justice. Bilahari Kausikan The retired Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan criticised Yeo on his Facebook page on 25 July 2020. Kausikan characterised Yeo as being foolish and said his actions could cause all Singaporeans to be suspected, and stated that it is not unreasonable to assume Yeo was recruited to work as a spy when he was a student at the LKYSPP. Kausikan added that he later learnt that Huang Jing, the political scientist and alleged spy, was Yeo's supervisor in LKYSPP. In an interview with Mothership, a Singaporean news website, Kausikan referred to Yeo as a "traitor", and said: "the probability is that Yeo was 'at least talent-spotted' by Huang or Huang 'played some sort of a role'", and that he did not believe that it was simply a pure coincidence. Huang Jing Huang Jing stated that he was "shocked" when he learnt the news of Yeo's incident from another former student; he also felt glad that Yeo was caught. Huang told the media that he seldom interacted with Yeo and only knew him as "Dickson Yeo". Huang also said that Yeo's academic performance was the worst among the six PhD students under Huang's supervision. In response to Kausikan's allegations, Huang denied he recruited Yeo to conduct the espionage and told the media that Kausikan's claims were "nonsense" and "unreasonable", as well as demanding Kausikan to either prove the comments or retract them. == Notes ==