A former US telecommunications worker has been sentenced to four years in prison for conspiring to act as an agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without notification to the Attorney General.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed this week that Ping Li, 59, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, was handed down the sentence following a plea agreement.

It wasn't revealed which US telecoms company or international IT business that Li worked for. He was charged with gathering civilian intelligence for China. The PRC's Ministry of State Security (MSS) is in charge of civilian intelligence collection for China.

On top of his four-year sentence, Li was also ordered to pay a fine of $250,000 and to serve three years of supervised release.

Li, who immigrated to the US from China, admitted that from as early as 2012, he served as a cooperative contact working at the direction of officers of the MSS to obtain information of interest to the PRC government.

At the request of the MSS, notes the US government, Li obtained information concerning Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and US-based non-governmental organizations, which he reported back to the MSS.

He also provided the MSS with information obtained from his employer.

"Li used a variety of anonymous online accounts for the purpose of communicating with the MSS, and traveled to the PRC to meet with the MSS," said the DoJ this week.

Providing a number of examples of Li's cooperation with the MSS, the DoJ noted that in March 2015, an MSS officer requested information from Li about branch offices that Li’s employer, a major US telecommunications company, had opened in the PRC. Li responded with the requested information three weeks later.

He was also asked to provide information in May 2021 in connection with hacking events that targeted US companies, including a widely publicized hacking of a major US company by the Chinese government. "Within four days, Li responded with the requested information," confirmed the DoJ.

The conviction of Li comes at a time when the US has been hit by a series of telecom hacks, suspected to be caused by China.

The hackers, part of a group called Salt Typhoon, have been able to listen in on audio calls in real-time and have, in some cases, moved from one telecom network to another.

It was reported last week that T-Mobile became the latest high-profile US carrier to be hit by the hackers, following reports of similar attacks against other US telcos last month including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies.

Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former telecom venture capitalist, told the Washington Post, it's the "worst telecom hack in our nation’s history."