Dr. Yanping Chen is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China. She was a cardiologist and medical researcher with the Chinese astronaut program. She came to the U.S. in 1987 to study and earned a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Washington University. She married a U.S. citizen, became a lawful permanent resident in 1993, and a U.S. citizen in 2001.
She lives in Arlington, Virginia. In 1998, Dr. Chen founded the University of Management and Technology in Arlington to provide secondary and graduate education to working adults. More than 12,000 students have received degrees in the last 20 years. In 2010, Dr. Chen became the focus of a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) investigation. After 6 years of investigation, Dr. Chen was told that no charges will be filed against her in 2016. However, confidential information from the investigation was allegedly leaked to Fox News in or around 2017. On December 21, 2018, Dr. Chen filed a privacy lawsuit against the FBI, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. The above information was obtained from a report by the National Law Journal and a 14-page complaint filed by Dr. Chen, who is represented by the legal firm WilmerHale. |
陈燕平博士出生于中国，是一位入籍美国公民。她曾担任中国宇航员项目的心脏病专家和医学研究员。于1987年来到美国学习并获得乔治华盛顿大学的公共政策硕士学位和博士学位。她与一名美国公民结婚，1993年成为合法的永久居民，2001年成为美国公民。
她现住在弗吉尼亚州的阿灵顿。 1998年，陈博士在阿灵顿成立了管理和技术大学，为在职成年人提供大学和研究生教育。在过去的20年里，已有超过12,000名学生获得学位。 2010年，陈博士成为联邦调查局（FBI）调查的焦点。经过6年的调查，在2016年陈博士被告知，不会对她提出任何指控。 但调查中的有关她的保密信息据称于2017年或之前泄露给福克斯新闻。 2018年12月21日，陈博士向联邦调查局，司法部，国防部和国土安全部提起侵犯隐私的诉讼。 上述信息来自国家法律期刊的报告和代表陈博士的律师所提交的的14页投诉。 |
Update on October 26, 2022
Dr. Yanping Chen’s Privacy Act case against the FBI, DOD, DHS, and DOJ remains ongoing almost four years after she filed the complaint. The lawsuit seeks accountability from the federal government for selectively leaking to Fox News information about Dr. Chen gathered during an FBI investigation. Dr. Chen claims that, after the FBI investigation ended with no charges, Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge published a series of reports displaying materials from the investigation, including personal photographs of Dr. Chen and her family, memoranda from FBI interviews, and Dr. Chen’s immigration and naturalization records.
According to court records, Dr. Chen has spent years seeking discovery from the government regarding the source of the leak. Yet the defendants have sought to keep information about the investigation of Dr. Chen secret. The FBI, for example, refused to confirm or deny whether an individual who appeared in Fox News’s reports is—as he claimed to Fox News—an FBI informant who worked on the investigation of Dr. Chen. The FBI has also claimed “law enforcement privilege” protects significant information related to the investigation in government records and from government witnesses. In February of 2022, the US District Court for the District of Columbia largely upheld the government’s claims of privilege, based in part on a classified hearing in which only government counsel (and not Dr. Chen) was able to participate.
Despite these difficulties, court records reflect that Dr. Chen has discovered evidence that Stephen Rhoads—a U.S. Army warrant officer who cooperated in the FBI’s investigation of Dr. Chen—frequently communicated with Ms. Herridge in advance of the Fox News publications. In a decision issued late last year, the Court stated that “newly produced records support a good-faith basis to believe Rhoads himself may have played a role, perhaps an important one, in the alleged leak. His pattern of communication with journalists about Chen, and any related communications with individuals within the government, are highly relevant to these issues and the extent to which the government directed, endorsed, or is otherwise responsible for his actions.”
Dr. Chen is now seeking information about the leak directly from Fox News and Ms. Herridge. Both Fox News and Ms. Herridge have moved to quash subpoenas served on them by Dr. Chen for documents and depositions about the leak. Those motions are currently pending before the Court.
According to court records, Dr. Chen has spent years seeking discovery from the government regarding the source of the leak. Yet the defendants have sought to keep information about the investigation of Dr. Chen secret. The FBI, for example, refused to confirm or deny whether an individual who appeared in Fox News’s reports is—as he claimed to Fox News—an FBI informant who worked on the investigation of Dr. Chen. The FBI has also claimed “law enforcement privilege” protects significant information related to the investigation in government records and from government witnesses. In February of 2022, the US District Court for the District of Columbia largely upheld the government’s claims of privilege, based in part on a classified hearing in which only government counsel (and not Dr. Chen) was able to participate.
Despite these difficulties, court records reflect that Dr. Chen has discovered evidence that Stephen Rhoads—a U.S. Army warrant officer who cooperated in the FBI’s investigation of Dr. Chen—frequently communicated with Ms. Herridge in advance of the Fox News publications. In a decision issued late last year, the Court stated that “newly produced records support a good-faith basis to believe Rhoads himself may have played a role, perhaps an important one, in the alleged leak. His pattern of communication with journalists about Chen, and any related communications with individuals within the government, are highly relevant to these issues and the extent to which the government directed, endorsed, or is otherwise responsible for his actions.”
Dr. Chen is now seeking information about the leak directly from Fox News and Ms. Herridge. Both Fox News and Ms. Herridge have moved to quash subpoenas served on them by Dr. Chen for documents and depositions about the leak. Those motions are currently pending before the Court.
Additonal Links
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2022/09/06 Plaintiff's Memorandum in Opposition to Non-Party Catherine v. Herridge's Motion to Quash
2021/11/23 Opinion and Order Case No. 20-mc-107 2021/05/11 Memorandum Opinion and Order 2020/02/12 Government motion for 6-day extension 2020/01/27 Judge denies motion to dismiss Leagle: Yanping Chen v. F.B.I. 2019/05/01 Dr. Chen's opposition to the government's motion to dismiss; attachments 2019/04/17 Government's motion to dismiss |
Attorneys representing Dr. Yanping Chen Left: Matt Jones Right: Jessica Lutkenhaus |