Scientist Quan-Sheng Shu figured he’d be on easy street the remainder of his life. Now he’s off to prison. Not exactly a retirement dream come true.
By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — A local scientist was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in federal prison after admitting he passed space technology to China and bribed Chinese government officials to obtain what could have been a lucrative contract worth millions.
Quan-Sheng Shu, 69, pleaded guilty in the fall to two counts of violating the federal Arms Export Control Act and one count of bribery. He could have faced up to 25 years in prison.
To the American people, Shu offered “a very sincere I’m sorry,” he told U.S. District Court Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr.
“I want to tell everybody I’ve never deliberately tried to harm anybody or the country,” he said, speaking through a Chinese interpreter.
Shu, owner of AMAC International Inc. in Newport News, provided China assistance in the design and development of a cryogenic fueling system for space-launch vehicles to be used at China’s space facility in Hainan.
