SANTA ANA, Calif. -- An Alhambra man arrested as he boarded a plane to Hong Kong and Guangzhou,
China, in 2005 carrying U.S. defense technology on an encrypted disk was sentenced in
Santa Ana on Monday to 10 years in prison.
Tai Mak pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge after his brother
Chi Mak, an engineer with Power Paragon in Anaheim, was convicted of conspiracy to export defense articles, operating as an agent of a foreign government and lying to a federal agent.
Chi Mak was sentenced last month to 24 ½ years in prison.
The U.S. Probation Department recommended a prison sentence of 78 months for Tai Mak. The recommendation jibed with federal sentencing guidelines.
But a prosecutor argued that a stiffer term was warranted because the documents involved sensitive information on naval submarine propulsion systems.
"This was opening a door, that should never have been opened, to the Chinese government, about what the
United States is thinking and doing about its submarine systems," Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Staples said.
"The most important factor in this case, since day one, was the sensitivity of the documents and the threat to this nation," Staples said.
Early in the hearing, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney, who presided over Chi Mak's trial, indicated his agreement with Staples' assessment.
"Chi Mak was the heart of the conspiracy," Carney said. "That was the greatest betrayal."
But betrayal and threat to national security are aggravating factors that also apply to Tai Mak, Carney said.
Defense attorney John Early argued that Tai Mak, a broadcast and engineering director of a Chinese cable network based in Hong Kong, lacked the expertise of his brother and "did not know the significance of the information that was being passed."
Tai Mak, who was living in the United States with his wife, son and daughter as a permanent resident alien, does not speak English and could not read the documents.
"He did not do anything intending to harm the United States in a particular respect," Early said.
"This trip to China was not designed to pass technology," Early said. Rather, he said, "when an older brother asks a younger brother to do something, it's a powerful force ... He didn't really want to do it."
Tai Mak was arrested the night of Oct. 25, 2005, along with his wife, Fuk Li. Their son, Billy Mak, a UCLA student, was later arrested for his role in encrypting the information.
Early said Tai Mak has suffered because both his son and wife were held at the Santa Ana Jail, along with him, for more than a year. The three were only "yards away" from each other, but he could never see or talk to them.
"His bigger sentence is what he has to do to bring his family together for the harm he has done to them," Early said.
Both Li and Billy Mak are again jailed as they face deportation proceedings, Early said.
In a statement to the court, Tai Mak apologized and asked for the lighter term so that he could re-unite with the family and be "a good husband and father."
Carney said Tai Mak is not as culpable as his brother, but he played a critical role as a conduit between Chi Mak and the Chinese government and for "bringing encryption to the table, so to speak."
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