The son of a prominent Texas Republican politician has been swept up in an explosive federal case accusing him of helping funnel sensitive information to China.
Thomas Pauken II, an American author and political commentator who spent years living in China, allegedly acted as a go-between for contacts linked to Beijing dangling cash incentives to influence US policy from inside the federal government.
Pauken - whose father Thomas Pauken I ran for governor of Texas - is now facing a felony charge alleging he operated on behalf of the Chinese government inside the United States without properly registering with the attorney general.
Federal investigators claim Pauken compiled confidential reports for a Chinese intelligence-linked handler who allegedly told him the material would ultimately be passed up the chain to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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