The script was familiar. For more than five years, a wealthy Queens businessman forcefully delivered the same message to a man wanted by China. Return to the homeland, or you — and your family — will face the consequences.

这是个似曾相识的剧本。在长达五年多的时间里，皇后区的一名富商强硬地向一名遭到中国通缉的男子传达同样的信息：回到祖国，否则你——还有你的家人——将承担后果。

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to prison for those threats.

本周三，他因这些威胁行为被判入狱。

The businessman, An Quanzhong, will spend about 13 months behind bars for trying to harass a U.S. resident into leaving for China to face charges for purported crimes. Mr. An pleaded guilty last May to working as an unauthorized agent for a foreign country, while his daughter, An Guangyan, pleaded guilty to an additional charge of visa fraud conspiracy. Ms. An is yet to be sentenced.

因试图骚扰一名美国居民、迫使其前往中国接受所谓的犯罪指控，这位名叫安全忠的商人将入狱约13个月。去年5月，安全忠承认为外国担任未经授权的代理人，他的女儿安光阳则承认了另一项签证欺诈阴谋的指控，但尚未宣判。

The government refers to Mr. An with his given name first, though Chinese naming conventions place his family name, An, first.

政府在提到安全忠时采用名前姓后的方式，但按照华人的习惯，姓氏在前。

Mr. An has also been ordered to pay $5 million in penalties, including more than $1 million in restitution to the person he targeted and to two other victims.

安全忠还被处以500万美元罚金，其中包括向他所针对的那名男子以及另外两名受害人支付100多万美元的赔偿。

Mr. An, 58, appeared before Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto in Brooklyn federal court and listened to his sentencing through a Mandarin-speaking interpreter, with several relatives and supporters in attendance. He has been on home confinement since May 2023 after spending seven months at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

58岁的安全忠在几位亲属和支持者的陪同下，在布鲁克林联邦法院通过一名中文翻译听取了法官松本清（Kiyo A. Matsumoto，音）的判决。自2023年5月以来，他一直处于居家监禁状态，之前他在布鲁克林大都会拘留中心度过了七个月。

In deciding Mr. An’s sentence, Judge Matsumoto said she had considered Mr. An’s difficult upbringing, his prominent status in the Chinese American community in Queens and the wretched conditions he faced at the detention center after he was detained in 2022. His time at the troubled jail, Judge Matsumoto said, warranted “a discount off his sentence.”

在对安全忠进行量刑时，松本法官表示，她考虑到了其艰难的成长经历、他在皇后区华裔美国人社区中的显赫地位，以及他在2022年遭拘留后在拘留中心面临的恶劣条件。松本法官称，考虑到他在那所问题重重的监狱里度过的时间，“应该在量刑时予以酌情从轻处理。”

But she said a sentence was necessary to deter transnational repression by the Chinese government, which she described as widespread. She noted the harm he had caused the people he sought to repatriate, who remain in the United States.

但她表示，为了阻止中国政府的跨国镇压，判刑是必要的，她认为这种镇压普遍存在。她指出，安全忠对他试图遣返的人造成了伤害，这些人目前仍在美国。

“Mr. An’s conduct presents a serious threat to national security,” Judge Matsumoto said.

“安全忠的行为对国家安全构成了严重威胁，”松本法官说道。

Ben Brafman, a lawyer for Mr. An, said in an interview after the proceeding that the 20-month sentence with credit for the seven months already served was about the best he could have hoped for, given the seriousness of the crime.

安全忠的律师本·布拉夫曼在宣判后接受采访时表示，考虑到这一罪行的严重性，20个月的刑期减去已经服刑的七个月，这是他所能期望的最好结果了。

In 2022, prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York indicted the Ans and five others in connection with Operation Fox Hunt, the Chinese government’s clandestine campaign to repatriate dissidents abroad. The Chinese Communist Party under its leader, Xi Jinping, started the operation in 2014, claiming it was meant to make fugitives face justice for corruption. U.S. officials have said it is merely autocratic repression.

2022年，纽约东区的检察官起诉安氏父女以及另外五人，指控他们与中国政府的“猎狐行动”有关，这是中国政府开展的一项秘密行动，目的是将在国外的持不同政见者遣送回国。中共在习近平的领导下，于2014年启动了这一行动，声称这是为了让一些逃亡贪腐分子接受法律制裁。美国官员称，这不过是专制镇压行为。

The sentencing was the latest example of Eastern District prosecutors’ crackdown on China’s efforts to harass U.S. residents and influence public officials.

此次宣判是纽约东区检察官打击中国骚扰美国居民、影响政府官员行为的最新案例。

In June 2023, three men, including a former New York police officer, were convicted of stalking a former Chinese government official. In September, a former aide to New York governors, Linda Sun, was indicted on charges that she had used her position to benefit China in exchange for lavish gifts. In December, a man pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to working as an agent of a foreign government after he was charged with running a Chinese police outpost in Lower Manhattan.

2023年6月，包括一名前纽约警官在内的三名男子因跟踪一名前中国政府官员而被定罪。去年9月，纽约州州长的前助手孙雯遭到起诉，她被指控利用职务之便为中国谋取利益，以换取奢侈的礼物。12月，一名男子在布鲁克林联邦法院承认充当外国政府的代理人，他被控在曼哈顿下城管理一个中国警务站。

The Chinese government since 2002 had targeted the man in the An case, who was not named, accusing him of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a state-owned company, prosecutors said.

检察官表示，自2002年以来，中国政府就盯上了安全忠一案中的男子（未透露姓名），指控他从一家国企盗取大量资产。

Starting in 2017, Mr. and Ms. An tried to induce him to return to China, prosecutors said, including by forcing a relative in China to travel to the U.S. to persuade him to return. On one occasion, Mr. An told the man’s son that the Chinese government had “targeted and monitored” the man’s family in China, and that “all of your relatives will be involved,” according to the indictment.

检方还称，从2017年开始，安氏父女就试图诱使他返回中国，包括强迫他在中国的一名亲属前往美国劝说他回国。根据起诉书内容，有一次，安全忠告诉这名男子的儿子，中国政府已经“盯上并监视”了他在中国的家人，而且“你所有的亲属都会遭到牵连”。

In 2019, the company that accused the man of stealing sued in State Supreme Court, and Mr. An told the man he could make the case go away if he returned to China, prosecutors said. In that event, Mr. An said, not only he would pay the Chinese government to drop the suit, but he would provide the man with housing, according to the indictment.

检方称，2019年，那家指控该男子盗窃的公司向州最高法院提起诉讼，安全忠告诉那名男子，如果他返回中国，这起案件就能了结。根据起诉书内容，安全忠当时表示，他不仅会出钱让中国政府撤销诉讼，而且还会为那名男子提供住房。

If the person didn’t return, Mr. An said, the suit would remain open. He also promised that the fugitive would not face prison in China, according to the indictment. In the courtroom on Wednesday, prosecutors said that lawsuit was still active.

起诉书显示，安全忠还说，如果那个人不回国，诉讼就会继续进行。他还承诺，那名逃犯回国后不会在中国面临牢狱之灾。周三在法庭上，检察官表示，这起诉讼目前仍在进行中。

Mr. An’s businesses and political influence spanned his native China and the United States, where he was a permanent resident, according to court papers. He founded the Anqiao Group, a real estate company based in Zaozhuang, a city in eastern China’s Shandong province that by 2015 had about $800 million in assets, Chinese state media reported. In 2014, Mr. An, through the Anqiao Group, opened the 96-room Parc Hotel in Flushing, Queens.

法庭文件显示，安全忠的生意和政治影响力横跨他的祖国中国和美国，他本人是美国的永久居民。据中国官方媒体的报道，他创办了安侨集团，这是一家总部位于中国山东枣庄的房地产公司，截至2015年，该公司资产约为8亿美元。2014年，安全忠通过安侨集团在皇后区法拉盛开设了拥有96间客房的安侨酒店(Parc Hotel)。

Mr. An was the president of the New York Shandong Association, an organization in Flushing for immigrants from that province, and enjoyed close ties to Representative Grace Meng, a Democrat whose district includes Flushing. She declared Oct. 6, 2015, “An Quanzhong Day.”

安全忠曾是纽约山东同乡会会长，该同乡会是法拉盛的一个为山东移民设立的组织，他与国会民主党众议员孟昭文关系密切。她将2015年10月6日设为“安全忠日”。

In a statement, a spokesman for Ms. Meng noted that the declaration took place before Mr. An’s crimes, and that she was “totally against any foreign government influencing or manipulating our democracy,” including China’s.

孟昭文的发言人在一份声明中指出，这件事发生在安全忠的犯罪行为之前，并且她“完全反对任何外国政府影响或操纵我们的民主制度”，包括来自中国政府的影响或操纵行为。

Back home in China, Mr. An was named in 2015 as a member of a government advisory committee in Zaozhuang, a city of about 3.9 million people.

在中国国内，安全忠于2015年成为枣庄市政协常委，枣庄是一座人口约390万的城市。

In 2013, he was named to the standing committee of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, an organization that is an essential part of the Communist Party’s United Front, which seeks to extend its influence both within China and among the tens of millions of ethnic Chinese people around the world.

2013年，他被推选为中华全国归国华侨联合会常务委员会委员，该组织是是中共领导的统一战线工作的重要组成部分，致力于在中国国内以及全球数千万华侨华人中扩大影响力。

In arguing for a lighter sentence, Mr. Brafman said that Mr. An had sought to repatriate the man out of genuine concern, and that his promise to protect him from incarceration in China showed he was looking out for him.

在为安全忠争取从轻量刑时，布拉夫曼称，他的当事人试图将那名男子遣送回国是出于真心的关切，而且他承诺让那名男子回国后不被监禁，这表明他是在为对方着想。

But Alex Solomon, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in court on Wednesday that Mr. An had more sinister intentions and “fundamentally undermined” American national security.

但美国助理检察官亚历克斯·所罗门周三在法庭上说，安全忠并非出于好意，并“从根本上破坏了”美国的国家安全。

“This was an extremely coercive situation,” Mr. Solomon said.

所罗门表示：“这是一种极具胁迫性的情况。”