An American journalist who spent years inside China’s state media machine has admitted in federal court that he operated as an illegal agent for Beijing, according to the Justice Department. Thomas Pauken II, who wrote under the name Tom McGregor, pleaded guilty in a Washington courtroom to acting as an unregistered foreign agent and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 1. Prosecutors say he faces up to 10 years in prison and describe him in court filings as a middleman who drafted reports and helped arrange communications between Chinese contacts and sources in the United States.
Pauken was arrested in February after flying to Washington from China. Prosecutors say he met with a person who had sought a job in the Trump administration, handed over a SIM card and pitched a $10,000 bonus for weekly reports designed to “influence policy” and be read by China’s top leadership. FBI agents monitored his late February meetings and say Pauken had already been stopped and questioned when he returned to the United States in January 2025. These details appear in court papers and public statements, according to The Associated Press.
Federal filings and reporting by Politico say Pauken was introduced to a Chinese handler he called “Cathy” and worked with her and other Chinese contacts beginning at least in 2019. Investigators allege he was paid roughly $100,000 and received trips in exchange for his reports, and that he sold research to a group in Wuhan that was seeking information about technology and the Justice Department and asking for a cyber specialist. His attorney has argued that the case is really about registration rules rather than classic cloak-and-dagger espionage.
What He Admitted And The Charges
Prosecutors say Pauken pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. attorney general, a felony that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years. Court documents allege he drafted reports, arranged devices and tried to connect Chinese handlers with U.S. sources, and that database checks showed he never registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Those findings are described in court filings and public statements, according to The Associated Press.
The plea lands amid a string of recent enforcement actions that prosecutors say are aimed at covert influence operations tied to Beijing, including the Arcadia, California, mayor’s guilty plea and an unrelated New York case handled in federal court. Reporting from NBC New York describes how prosecutors have leaned on registration and foreign-agent statutes to target alleged efforts to shape U.S. policy and local politics.
Charles Burnham, Pauken’s lawyer, told Politico that “Mr. Pauken is not charged with spying or mishandling classified information,” casting the case as one focused on disclosure and paperwork rather than secrets. With sentencing set for Sept. 1, the plea is likely to feed an already heated debate over how aggressively the government should enforce foreign-agent laws while still protecting speech and legitimate reporting.
