June 5 Three relatives of a Chinese-American engineer convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. secrets to China have pleaded guilty in California to similar charges. Tai Mak, brother of convicted engineer Chi Mak, pleaded guilty in a Santa Ana, Calif., U.S. District Court to violating export-control laws, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Tai Mak's wife, Fuk Heung Li; and son, Billy Yui Mak, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the violation of the export-control laws. Chi Mak was convicted May 10 of acting as an unregistered agent for China, giving false statements to the FBI, conspiracy to violate export-control laws and attempting to violate export-control laws. He was accused of attempting to pass information on U.S. naval technology to China, the newspaper report said. Prosecutors said he put the information on two encrypted disks and gave them to his brother to transport to China. Chi Mak's wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday, the Times said.
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