The former contractor for the U.S. Defense Department allegedly attempted to sell sensitive U.S. military information to the Chinese regime.
An American national who allegedly attempted to sell sensitive U.S. military information to China has been indicted on charges of espionage, Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office stated on Aug. 25.
The man, identified by federal prosecutors as Martin D., in line with German privacy rules, has been in pretrial detention since his arrest in Frankfurt in November 2024.
A former contractor for the U.S. Defense Department, the suspect repeatedly contacted the Chinese state agencies in the summer of 2024, offering to pass along “sensitive U.S. military information” to a Chinese intelligence service, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“The accused is sufficiently suspected of having declared his willingness to engage in intelligence activities for a foreign intelligence service in a particularly serious case,” the office stated, according to a translation of the original German text.
The charges against him were filed on Aug. 13, it noted.
According to prosecutors, the American served as a civilian contractor for the U.S. Defense Department from 2017 to 2023 and had worked at a U.S. military base in Germany since at least 2020.
A 2024 report from the German Press Agency indicated that the suspect had not managed to transfer any information to the Chinese communist regime prior to his arrest.
The case emerged amid growing concerns over espionage activities directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outside China’s borders, following a spate of arrests in the United States, Germany, and other countries in Europe.
In January, German prosecutors charged three people for allegedly handing over intelligence and technologies that could have military applications to the CCP.
The accused, all German nationals, also allegedly purchased three “special lasers” from Germany, which were ultimately financed by the CCP’s top spy agency and shipped back to China without the necessary authorization, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.
German authorities did not disclose further details about the lasers but said the items are subject to the European Union’s dual-use export control regulations.
By Dorothy Li
