[mdorazio]

That's not how criminal investigation works, that's how a witch hunt works. In order to be a legitimate criminal investigation, the first part needs to be that an actual crime was committed, then suspicious activities are used to justify an investigation and possible conviction based on evidence. Otherwise, police could just run around arresting people because "that guy looks suspicious", search all their stuff and activities for something possibly illegal, and then say "look, we were right all along".

[perennate]

I agree, but keep in mind that Hongjin has merely been charged and not convicted yet. The evidence has not been presented in court yet, and it's quite likely that the evidence is going to be much much more comprehensive than the small set of facts that appeared in the SCMP article. If this is really all the evidence the FBI has, though, Hongjin will almost certainly not be convicted.

[zaroth]

Hasn’t stopped the FBI lately!