Behind the headlines, there is plenty of discomfiture all around. It is yet another monumental embarrassment for the FBI and the Republican Party in the United States, whose leaders for years delivered blistering accusations of treason against the Democratic administration of president Bill Clinton for allegedly giving away state and military secrets to the Chinese.
Now, it appears, if the charges against Leung are true, it was a highly placed Republican giving away the secrets, and FBI agents who were witting or unwitting participants. Certainly, with a Republican administration in power in Washington, DC, federal authorities and congressional leaders have gone inordinately quiet, to Democratic glee...
Leung and her husband emigrated from China to San Marino, once a nearly all-white, extremely wealthy, conservative enclave of Los Angeles. Since the early 1990s, it has increasingly filled up with wealthy Chinese, particularly those betting against a benign takeover of Hong Kong in 1997 by the Chinese government. She describes herself as a "venture capitalist" and owns a bookstore, Monterey Books and Stationers, in nearby Monterey Park.
She rose quickly to the top of Los Angeles Republican ranks, giving lavish parties at her US$2 million home, which is flanked by four stone lions and features two swimming pools. A US congressman named her to the California State Republican Central Committee.
Leung was spotted at the inaugural ball of President George W Bush.Leung was more than just a spy and counterspy. She appears to have been a fixer in China as well for individuals and companies seeking guanxi with Chinese leaders. In an affidavit filed in Los Angeles in the case, the Canadian telecommunications company Nortel indicated it had paid her a $1.2 million commission for her services. US government documents indicate she maintained 16 foreign bank accounts in Hong Kong and China. Making countless trips to China, she operated a variety of companies in Hong Kong under names such as "Right Fortune" and "Merry Glory".
She accompanied former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan to China seeking a multimillion-dollar contract to get the Chinese to use Los Angeles' underutilized seaport. With her help, Riordan met with Chinese president Jiang Zemin. She also sought to aid current Los Angeles Mayor Kenneth Hahn on a recent trade mission to China. snip
Leung, now 49, allegedly carried on a relationship for 20 years with Smith, the FBI's top expert on Chinese Counterintelligence in Los Angeles until his retirement in 2000. Smith had been warned a full 12 years earlier by William Cleveland, his superior, that wiretaps indicated Leung might be a double agent. Smith defended her. Cleveland apparently decided to check for himself and ended up in bed with her, according to affidavits made available to Asia Times Online.
snip
Interestingly enough, neither she nor Smith is charged with espionage, which carries the death penalty. She is instead charged with unauthorized possession of documents relating to national defense and two counts of copying documents connected with the S national defense with reason to believe that they would be used to the benefit of another country. "We are still investigating," said a spokesman for the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EE27Ad02.html