Australian jury convicts Sydney business consultant over deals with suspected Chinese spies

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A Sydney business consultant was convicted Friday of breaking Australia’s foreign interference laws by providing reports to two people he should have suspected were Chinese spies.

Alexander Csergo, 59, is only the second person to be convicted under Australian laws against covert interference and espionage that angered China when they were legislated in 2018.

The jury that heard the trial in New South Wales District Court in Sydney found Csergo should have suspected that a man and woman he knew only as Ken and Evelyn were working for China’s ministry of state security.

He was found guilty of the charge of reckless foreign interference and was released on bail for the weekend to return to court Monday, when prosecutors will argue for him to be placed in custody. He faces a potential prison term of up to 15 years when he is sentenced.

Csergo’s lawyers argued he used open-source information as research. He also lied to the suspected spies about interviewing several individuals including Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister who is currently Australia’s ambassador to the U.S.

Csergo was working in Shanghai as a communications and technology consultant in 2021 when he was approached through the professional network platform LinkedIn by Evelyn, who said she was from a Chinese think tank.

He provided handwritten reports to Evelyn and Ken in return for cash on topics including defense, security, politics and mining. Subjects included the AUKUS trilateral partnership in which Britain will help provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.