Michael McMahon

pardonOtherFurther reading

Date pardoned

7 November 2025

Convicted of

Convicted in June 2023 of acting as an illegal foreign agent, interstate stalking, and conspiracy. The case centred on Xu Jin, a former Chinese city official who had relocated to New Jersey in 2010. Between 2016 and 2019, McMahon was hired by Chinese co-defendants to locate and surveil Xu Jin and his family as part of a pressure campaign to force their return to China — part of Beijing's broader "Operation Fox Hunt" initiative, which US prosecutors have described as a programme of transnational repression.

Original sentence

Sentenced April 2025 to 18 months in prison (prosecutors had sought 7 years)

Post-pardon activity

1mentions

0new offenses

Original source →

Subsequent News Mentions(1)

Day 292· 7 November 2025

Trump pardoned former law enforcement officer Michael McMahon, convicted of acting as an illegal agent in a conspiracy targeting a Chinese family in New Jersey. The White House claimed he was tricked into the scheme.

Michael McMahon

Subsequent News Mentions(1)

Further Reading(6)