Chinese NYPD officer fired for allegedly spying for Chinese Communist Party, documents show

The New York City Police Department fired an officer from China after he was discovered to be allegedly spying for the Chinese Communist Party, according to internal disciplinary records.

NYPD Lt. Steven Li, who worked at the department's Internal Affairs Bureau, had helped a Chinese national connect with a Chinese woman between 2019 and 2021, investigators with the police force and the FBI said, according to documents published last week by the outlet Documented.

He is accused of assisting Chinese national Sun Hoi Ying, who was indicted in 2022 for acting as an agent for China without notifying the U.S. government of his presence as required under the law.

Li is accused of organizing meetings for Ying in New York with the woman, who is identified as "Huang." She was accused of embezzling money in China from a state-owned company before moving to the United States more than two decades ago.

Li, who has not been criminally charged, was fired in February, according to the documents. The police department conducted an internal trial and found he did not act as a Chinese agent, but he did make false statements to the FBI.

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