Katrina Leung Is Released on Bail, Vows Loyalty to the U.S.

In her first public remarks since being released on bail, accused double-agent Katrina Leung declared her loyalty to the United States Tuesday and vowed to fight to clear her name.

“I have been, and I am, a very proud and loyal American,” Leung told a crowd of reporters outside the Roybal federal building in downtown Los Angeles after a court hearing.

The 49-year-old Chinese American businesswoman said she was happy to be home again with her husband and son after she was released on bail, and she expressed gratitude for their support.

On the advice of her attorneys, she took no questions about the charges against her.

Leung, who worked as a paid FBI informant for two decades, was arrested in April and indicted on charges of illegally obtaining, copying and possessing national security documents that could be used to harm U.S. interests.

Retired FBI counterintelligence agent James J. Smith, 59, her longtime handler and lover, was also arrested and charged with criminal gross negligence for allegedly allowing Leung access to the documents, and with fraud for having covered up information that raised doubts about her credibility.

The government contends that Leung was feeding information to the Chinese Ministry of State Security about FBI counterintelligence operations while being paid to spy on the Beijing government. Her lawyers contend she was acting under instructions from Smith and other FBI agents.

While Smith was freed on bail immediately after his arrest, Leung was declared a flight risk by a federal magistrate and held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center, until U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper reversed that ruling and allowed her release Thursday on $2-million bond.

Leung is required to wear an electronic monitoring device and her travels are restricted to her lawyers’ offices and an undisclosed location where defense lawyers are allowed to view classified government documents in preparation for the trial.

In court Tuesday, Cooper ordered the prosecution to purge the indictment of four “a.k.a.’s” beneath Leung’s name, saying their presentation in that form could prejudice a jury. She stressed, however, that the government could use the names at trial.

One a.k.a., “Parlor Maid,” was the FBI’s code name for Leung. Another one, “Luo,” was the code name allegedly given to her by the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

The others were Leung’s birth names in Cantonese and Mandarin dialects.

Cooper also took under submission a defense motion to strike three of the five charges against Leung on grounds that the indictment failed to allege that Leung had “reason to believe” the national security documents found in her home could be used to harm the United States. The judge said she was leaning toward granting the motion.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Emmick argued that the charges were valid as presented in the indictment because they accused Leung of acting “willfully.” If the judge rules against the prosecution, Emmick said, he would go back to the grand jury and obtain a superseding indictment correcting any omission.