Chinese Officials Used Fake Identity to Target U.S. Olympic Skater's Father

A man named Matthew Ziburis, one of five charged in March 2022, pretended to be an official from the U.S. Olympic Committee. His goal: to trick Arthur Liu, father of figure skater Alysa Liu, into handing over his passport information. This happened three months before the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Arthur Liu is a Chinese dissident—someone who fled China for his political beliefs and now lives in the U.S. The FBI had already warned Liu in October 2021 that he was being targeted. The case reveals that Chinese intelligence operations don't stop at traditional spying. They also target the families of high-profile American athletes who compete abroad. Federal prosecutors held off announcing the charges until after the Olympics ended, a timing choice that allowed Alysa Liu to compete without disruption while investigators continued building their case.