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WASHINGTON — An explosive collection of newly declassified FBI records reveals that federal agents opened a full public-corruption investigation into then-Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell over allegations that suspected Beijing intelligence operative Christine Fang facilitated a scheme to place interns in his congressional office in exchange for campaign contributions—including money investigators said she routed through American intermediaries to conceal herself as the prohibited foreign source.
The sprawling investigation went far beyond the now-documented sexual relationship between Fang and the rising California politician. FBI records show agents suspected Fang had ties to China’s Ministry of State Security, Beijing’s powerful civilian intelligence service, while investigators used physical surveillance, confidential sources, search warrants and an undercover operation to determine whether campaign money was being exchanged for access and internships. At one stage, the operation’s stated objective was to gather enough evidence to indict and arrest both Swalwell and Fang for campaign-finance violations and alleged quid pro quo exchanges.
The investigation reached deeply into Swalwell’s political fundraising network. The FBI noted that his campaign had received $1,145,688 in individual contributions between January 2013 and December 2014.
FBI files describe a Chinese national volunteering in the campaign, a wealthy winery owner who said Fang told him to “just bring his checkbook” because she would reimburse his donation, and a fast-food franchise magnate who told agents Fang wanted his contribution credited to her.
Agents also scrutinized an unusual 2014 event at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas involving Fang, Swalwell, collected donation checks and campaign-finance reimbursement concerns—an episode whose key participants remain partly obscured by FBI redactions.
The investigation, codenamed Freshman Fifteen, centered on allegations that Fang was facilitating a scheme to trade internships in Swalwell’s congressional office for campaign contributions. In March 2015, FBI agents wrote that several contributions had been routed through intermediaries and that, in at least two cases, Fang used conduits to conceal herself as the prohibited foreign-national source of the money.
The case had been opened as a Sensitive Investigative Matter because one of its subjects was a sitting member of Congress. A June 2014 FBI memorandum listed possible violations including bribery of public officials, conspiracy, excessive campaign contributions, prohibited foreign-national contributions and contributions through conduits. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California was notified before the investigation was opened, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney agreed to prosecute if agents developed sufficient evidence.
Agents were already conducting physical surveillance in the case.
On the evening of June 16, 2014, two FBI agents conducted more than three hours of surveillance at a California shopping center, recording arrivals and departures minute by minute. A man resembling a city councilman appeared shortly after 6:30 p.m. Agents logged a gold Lexus, a black Mercedes-Benz, a white Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota FJ Cruiser. At 8:42 p.m., they watched an Asian woman in red shoes descend an escalator and cross the parking lot while interacting with what appeared to be a cellphone.
