Former US Marine held in Australia received more than $100,000 to train Chinese pilots, indictment alleges

The US government has accused the former marine pilot Daniel Duggan of receiving more than $100,000 to teach Chinese aviators how to land on aircraft carriers.

An unsealed indictment, filed in the US District of Colombia, alleges the naturalised Australian received 12 payments of either $9,900 or $9,500, with receipts often citing “personal development training”.

It says the payments were made by an unnamed China-based business that, according to the US government, “acquired military equipment and technical data for the PRC government and military”.

New details in the indictment allege Duggan, 54, negotiated the terms of his service and wrote in a September 2012 email, while in China, that “he hoped his children would be set for life as a result”.

Duggan is accused of providing military training to Chinese pilots at a test flying academy in South Africa that required teachers to have “knowledge and experience in naval aviation meeting Nato standards”.

The unsealed indictment also alleges Duggan negotiated directly with a Chinese national to provide additional services to a state-owned entity.

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“These services included the evaluation of military pilot trainees, testing of naval aviation-related equipment, and instructions on tactics, techniques and procedures associated with launching from and landing on a naval aircraft carrier,” the indictment said.

“Neither Duggan nor any of his coconspirators applied for a license from the United States government to provide defence services to any foreign nationals.”

Duggan was arrested by Australian federal police in a regional New South Wales town on 21 October, at the request of the FBI.

In December, the Australian government approved a request to extradite Duggan to the US to face charges.

Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, has previously said the 54-year-old pilot will fight any extradition request, and resolutely maintains his innocence.

“He denies having breached any US law, any Australian law, any international law,” Miralis said in December.

US authorities believe Duggan, also known by the names Ding San Xing, Din San Qing, DSQ or Ivan, provided “aviation services in China”.

The document reveals the US State Department emailed Duggan as early as 2008 to tell him he needed to apply for written authorisation to provide training to a foreign air force.

In December 2010, US authorities allege the owner of the China-based business stated Duggan would be giving a presentation titled Personal Development Training: The Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Mission Success. Weeks later, he is alleged to have received a payment of $9,500.

In March 2011, Duggan is accused of drafting “a multi-page assessment that reviewed aspects of the PRC’s aircraft carrier training program and proposed carrier aviation training-related services”. Another payment followed a month later.

The indictment alleges Duggan and another eight unnamed co-conspirators were involved in providing military services to Chinese pilots, including a former US Navy officer.

It also alleges some of the group used false information to acquire a T-2 Buckeye from the US to be used for training in South Africa.

Duggan and his co-conspirators are accused of seeking to defraud the US government by “deceit, craft, trickery and dishonest means”.

Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said the “wide sweep” of the indictment revealed a “detailed criminal investigation” by US authorities.

“Duggan was a US citizen until some point in time in 2012 when he acquired Australian citizenship and is therefore subject to the application of these US laws for conduct in China and South Africa during the time he was a US citizen,” Rothwell said.

Duggan’s arrest coincided with warnings from Australian and British authorities over the practice of former military pilots being offered lucrative contracts to train pilots in China.

Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, has previously described the charges as “politically motivated injustice”, arguing her husband is a “victim of the United States government’s political dispute with China”.