President Donald Trump granted a pardon Friday to a former New York police sergeant who was convicted of helping China try to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland, a prominent case in U.S. authorities’ efforts to combat what they claim are Beijing’s far-flung efforts to repress critics.<\/p>\n
Michael McMahon was sentenced this spring to 18 months in prison for his role in what a federal judge called \u201ca campaign of transnational repression." He insisted he was innocent, saying he was \u201cunwittingly used\u201d when he took what he thought was a straightforward private-investigator gig. McMahon said he was told he was working for a Chinese construction company, not the nation’s government.<\/p>\n
A White House official, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss a pardon that hasn\u2019t been publicly announced, pointed to McMahon’s explanation that he’d been misled. The official also noted that McMahon earned dozens of commendations before a 2001 injury ended his 14-year NYPD career.<\/p>\n
McMahon’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, said the pardon \u201ccorrects a horrible injustice.\u201d
\n\u201cI will always believe that it was the Chinese government that victimized Mike, a true hero cop, whom our government should have celebrated and honored, rather than indicted,\u201d Lustberg said by email.
\nThe Brooklyn-based federal prosecutors’ office that brought the case declined to comment.<\/p>\n
McMahon was one of three men convicted at the first trial stemming from U.S. claims about China\u2019s decade-old \u201cOperation Fox Hunt\u201d initiative. His co-defendants, both Chinese citizens, also were convicted and sentenced to prison, where they remain.
\nU.S. authorities have viewed \u201cOperation Fox Hunt,\u201d in at least some instances, as a tool of \u201ctransnational repression\u201d \u2014 a term for sending government operatives to harass, threaten and silence dissidents living abroad.
\nBeijing says it’s just trying to repatriate fugitives, including corrupt officials, and denies making threats to secure their return.<\/p>\n
The pardon of Michael McMahon highlights the complexities of the U.S.-China relationship and the challenges of combating transnational repression. While the pardon may be seen as a victory for McMahon, it also raises questions about the extent to which the U.S. government will go to protect its citizens from foreign interference.<\/p>\n
Q: What was Michael McMahon convicted of?
\nA: Michael McMahon was convicted of helping China try to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland.
\nQ: What is Operation Fox Hunt?
\nA: Operation Fox Hunt is a Chinese initiative that the U.S. views as a tool of transnational repression, used to harass, threaten, and silence dissidents living abroad.
\nQ: What was the reaction to the pardon?
\nA: McMahon’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, said the pardon \u201ccorrects a horrible injustice,\u201d while the Brooklyn-based federal prosecutors’ office declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Pardon President Donald Trump granted a pardon Friday to a former New York police sergeant who was convicted of helping China try to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland, a prominent case in U.S. authorities’ efforts to combat what they claim are Beijing’s far-flung efforts to repress critics. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-reports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.nbcnewyork.com\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244999403.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&fit=8256,5504&w=1920&resize=1920,1280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25122,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119\/revisions\/25122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}