$15 million bounty offered for suspected leader of Chinese ring, as well as accomplices, who are charged with trafficking American drone technology to Iran

The FBI released a wanted poster for Chinese national Baoxia “Emily” Liu, along with information that the State Department has announced a reward of up to $15 million for details about her and other individuals suspected of smuggling U.S. drone weapons to Iran. 

Baoxia Liu and three other Chinese nationals were indicted by President Joe Biden’s Justice Department in January 2024 for an alleged conspiracy involving the unlawful export and smuggling of U.S. export-controlled items through China and Hong Kong to entities connected with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), which oversees the production of Tehran’s missiles, weapons, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Her co-defendants are Li Yongxin, also known as “Emma Lee;” Yung Yiu Wa, also known as “Stephen Yung;” and Zhong Yanlai, also known as Sydney Chung. 

The State Department stated that Liu and her three co-defendants are accused of misrepresenting the end users of dual-use U.S.-origin electronic components, causing U.S. companies to export goods to front companies in the People’s Republic of China under false pretenses that the products were intended for China rather than Iran.

A veiled Iranian woman holds up a sign featuring portraits of Lebanon’s Hezbollah late leaders, Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddin, during a rally at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in downtown Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 23, 2025.  (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“As a result, a vast amount of dual-use U.S.-origin products with military capabilities have been exported from the United States to IRGC-linked companies Shiraz Electronics Industries (SEI), Rayan Roshd Afzar, and their affiliates, in violation of U.S. sanctions and export control laws and regulations,” the department said. 

The IRGC and MODAFL “have utilized the U.S.-controlled technology to develop and manufacture arms and weapons systems, including UAVs, that are sold to governments and groups in allied countries such as Russia, Sudan, and Yemen,” it added.