Trump pardons ex-NYPD officer who was convicted of helping China stalk an expat

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 farflung efforts to repress critics.

Michael McMahon was sentenced this spring to 18 months in prison for his in what a federal judge called "a campaign of transnational repression." He insisted he was innocent, saying he was "unwittingly used" 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.

A White House official, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss a pardon that hasn't 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.


McMahon's lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, said the pardon "corrects a horrible injustice."

"I 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," Lustberg said by email.

The Brooklyn-based federal prosecutors' office that brought the case declined to comment.

McMahon was one of three men convicted at the first trial stemming from U.S. claims about China's decade-old "Operation Fox Hunt" initiative. His co-defendants, both Chinese citizens, also were convicted and sentenced to prison, where they remain.

U.S. authorities have viewed "Operation Fox Hunt," in at least some instances, as a tool of "transnational repression" - a term for sending government operatives to harass, threaten and silence dissidents living abroad.

Beijing says it's just trying to repatriate fugitives, including corrupt officials, and denies making threats to secure their return.