A federal jury in San Diego on 20 August 2025 convicted U.S. Navy sailor Jinchao “Patrick” Wei of six charges, including espionage and unlawful export of defense data, for supplying classified information to a Chinese intelligence officer. Wei, 25, served as a machinist’s mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex at Naval Base San Diego and held a security clearance. Prosecutors said that between February 2022 and his arrest in August 2023 he provided the operative with about 60 technical and operating manuals, photographs, videos, ship-movement details and assessments of warship vulnerabilities in exchange for US$12,000. Court documents show the sailor was recruited over social media by an individual he knew as “Big Brother Andy.” Wei used encrypted messaging, dedicated phones and digital dead-drops to transmit the material, and acknowledged to a fellow sailor that the activity was “quite obviously” espionage. After his arrest he told FBI agents, “I’m screwed.” The investigation was led by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with the case prosecuted by the Justice Department’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg called the verdict a warning to others who might trade national secrets for cash. Wei, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment at a hearing scheduled for 1 December 2025.