An Australian businessman, Alexander Csergo, has been found guilty of reckless foreign interference after compiling reports for two individuals prosecutors said he should have suspected were Chinese spies.
Csergo, 59, faces up to 15 years in prison following his conviction on Friday at a court in Sydney.
Authorities revealed that two individuals, identified only as “Ken” and “Evelyn”, offered to pay him for information related to national security while he was working in Shanghai.
The defence argued that the reports contained publicly available information, and that the only deceptions involved plagiarism and fabricated quotes from people he claimed to have interviewed, including former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The New South Wales District Court heard that Csergo, who ran a business in Shanghai, was first approached in 2021 by a woman claiming to work for a thinktank. She arranged for him to meet Ken and Evelyn, saying they had business interests in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Csergo later delivered reports to the pair in exchange for envelopes containing thousands of dollars in cash, with meetings occurring in largely empty cafes and restaurants, prosecutors said.
The court was told that Ken and Evelyn requested reports on a “shopping list” of subjects, including lithium mining, iron ore, the Aukus agreement, and the Quad. The list was discovered during a 2023 search of Csergo’s Bondi premises after his return to Australia, when he was arrested.
Although the information provided was deemed worthless, prosecutors argued that Csergo believed the pair were affiliated with China’s Ministry of State Security and was reckless as to whether his reports could aid Chinese intelligence.
Csergo reportedly thought he was being groomed as a potential intelligence source and had exchanged 2,800 WeChat messages with Ken, prosecutors said.
He did not give evidence during the trial but told police that he assumed he was under surveillance in China and that his reports relied on publicly available information and fabricated interviews.
Csergo is only the second Australian to be charged and convicted under anti-spying laws introduced in 2018.
