Authorities on Tuesday arrested Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese citizen who was living in Chicago, accusing him of spying on the U.S. for China.

Ji was allegedly trying to recruit a variety of Chinese nationals living in the U.S., according to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Some of Ji's alleged potential recruits were engineers and scientists, while others were U.S. defense contractors.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ji has been charged with one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government knowingly on U.S. soil.

Ji allegedly did so at the direction of a high-ranking intelligence official within the Ministry of State Security for the People's Republic of China.

According to the DOJ, Ji came to the U.S. to study electrical engineering in 2013 and joined the U.S. Army Reserves in 2016.

He is set to first appear in federal court in Chicago at 5 p.m. Tuesday.