Accused carbon-fiber trader no spy: family

A relative of a Chinese businessman, who has pled guilty to attempting to export weapons-grade carbon fiber to China from the US on Thursday, said that the man was just working for his own business.

The relative of Ma Lisong, 34, told the Nanjing-based newspaper Yangtze Evening Post on Sunday that Ma owns a small plastic manufacturer in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province.

Reuters reported that Ma, who entered his plea in New York, could be facing a maximum of 20 years in jail for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which bans unlicensed T-800 carbon fiber exports to China.

The relative said Ma flew to New York to discuss his purchase of the weapons-grade carbon fiber in Brooklyn on March 21, after contacting a website which sells high-tech products used in the aviation and military fields.

"He paid $400 for a sample of one kilogram of T-800 and sent it back through express mail to test its quality before more purchases," his relative said. His mail was sent with a false invoice because Ma knew his application for the T-800 purchase was incomplete, the newspaper reported.

The mail Ma sent back to China contained the material while its invoice read "clothing," according to Reuters. He was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on April 1 as he was in transit back to Shanghai, and remains in federal custody.

Ma tried to purchase carbon fiber for bicycle frames, electric blankets and fishing rods from a US website in February, never realizing that it was a cyber-sting operation set up by US Homeland Security Investigations, until he was arrested on suspicion of being a spy.

This type of carbon fiber can have military applications, which is why its import is restricted, according to a US Department of Justice press release about the case.

Ma's family and his neighbors were shocked.

"My son has always kept his head down to his business and he never even joined the army. He just went to purchase the carbon fiber. How come he became a spy?" Ma's mother told the paper. His family has contacted the Chinese embassy in the US and they have reportedly spent tens of thousands yuan on his legal costs.

Hai Ming, Ma's lawyer, told Reuters that Ma was not acting on behalf of the Chinese government or military.

In September 2012, another Chinese business man, Zhang Mingxuan (also known as Ming Suan Zhang), 40, was also arrested under suspicion of exporting the same carbon fiber as Ma. The prosecutor claimed that the fiber could be used in new Chinese jet fighters. Zhang, who also faces 20 years in jail, has not been sentenced yet.

Global Times - Reuters