SPY LARRY CHIN DIES IN APPARENT SUICIDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650019-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: February 22, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650019-5
= WASHINGTON POST
22 February 1986
Spy L
arrY Chin Dies
In Apparent Suicide
Convicted Feb. 7 of Selling Secrets to China
By Caryle Murphy
W..hmgbni Pmt Staff Wnlcr
Larry Wu-Tai Chin, the former
CIA translator convicted two weeks
ago of spying for t e inese or
Snore an 30 years apparen v
committed suicide early yesterday
in his oaf cell by tying a plastic ba
over his ea federal authorities
said.
The 63-year-old Chin, who told
reporters after his conviction that
he had "nothing to regret," was
found in his bed at the Prince Wil-
liam-Manassas Regional Adult De-
tention Center at 8:45 a.m. by jail
personnel, according to a statement
from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Completely covered by his blan-
ket except for his feet, Chin was
found with a plastic bag tied over
his head with a shoelace, according
to sources familiar with the case.
He was not breathing, the sources
said, and despite emergency unit
rescue attempts he could not be re-
vived. He was pronounced dead at
9:35 a.m., the Marshals Service
statement said.
"Although Mr. Chin's death ap-
pears to have been the result of his
own intentional actions," the state-
ment said, "no categorical state-
ment regarding the cause of death
is possible or appropriate until the
autopsy report is completed by-'}je
medical examiner."
Prince William County Cq gon_
wealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert
said he was conducting an investi-
gation but would not issue a formal
report until he sees the results.of an
autopsy to be performed today at
Fairfax Hospital by the Northern
Virginia state medical examiner's
office.
A letter to Chin's wife Cathy was
found in his cell, according to in-
formed sources. Sealed in an envel-
ope, it is written in Chinese, and
federal authorities plan to-have it
translated this weekend.
Chin, who was alone in his cell
yesterday, had breakfast there at
6:30 a.m., according to the
Marshals Service statement. It has
not been disclosed how he obtained
a plastic bag and shoelace:
Last week, Chin told a fellow in-
mate that if he was given a life sen-
tence, he would not serve it, ac-
cording to knowledgeable sources.
Instead, the sources said, Chin, a di-
abetic, said he would induce a coma
by eating sugar.
This suicide threat was reported
to prison authorities, who placed
Chin under close scrutiny for a
time, a source said. Jail authorities
had a doctor and nurse examine
Chin, and they reported that he was
not suicidal, the source continued,
and Chin was taken off the "suicide
watch."
Officials at the jail would not
comment on this account. They said
that on a suicide watch, a prisoner
is placed in a solitary cell and
checked at least every 30 minutes.
.Chin, like other federal prisoners
awaiting trial or sentencing in
Northern Virginia, was being held
in a local facility. At his sentencing,
which was scheduled for March 17,
Chin faced a maximum of two life
sentences plus 83 years in prison
and $3.3 million in fines. After sen-
tencing for his Feb. 7 conviction on
e. io e, conspiracy and tax eva-
sl, , c {,ges, he would have been
t ansferred to a federal prison.
Chin seemed upbeat and relaxed
during a half-hour conversation at
the jail with two reporters three
days after his conviction.
In that conversation he said he
had bass classified information to
the c,hmese rom is IA sob as Hart
Chin and the United States. Chin
~2 11 tests ~e tat a pa on
fformation that put the United
iSaates and its intentions toward
;China in a good light, and he denied
jpassing military secrets. A life sen-
ttence, he said in the interview, "was
is very small price to pay" for fos-
tering that friendship.
Chin's wife identified his body at
the Prince William Hospital, where
it was taken from the jail. The
ins have two sons and a daugh-
er.
Chin led a multifaceted life that
saw t e to , s en er man go from a
student of English and journalism at
Peking s enc m niversit in -the
lat1940s- to a long I career to a
spying conviction.
Patriarch of a family numbering
about 40, Chin was a man who
loved to gamble, taking numerous
jaunts to Las Vegas to play black-
jack, and to invest in real estate. A
review of land records disclosed
that he owned property valued at
more than $700,000, including 16
condominiums and seven houses, in
the Washington area, Baltimore and
Las Vegas.
An avid traveler, he lived mod-
estly in a one-bedroom apartment in
Alexandria. Though Chin was fas-
tidious in keeping records and per-
sonal diaries of his activities,
sources familiar with his journals
said yesterday that the papers shed
little light on his emotions or feel-
ings. One described them as "very
sterile."
At the CIA where Chin worked _
in R ssl n office of the Foreign
Information Broadcasting Service
until his retirement in 1981. he was
ktn as a reliable, top-notch
translator and analyst. Chin, who
served as a CIA consultant until his
arrest, was one o the best, a su-
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650019-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650019-5
pervisor, Cy Braegelmann, testified
at his trial.
But at the same time, Chin, who
according to prosecutors passed in-
formation to the Chinese on Chin-
ese POWs during the Korean War,
met regularly with Chinese intel-
ligence agents from 1970 on. Tes-
timony showed that he furnished
them with classified documents, re-
ceiving at least $180,000, which he,
stashed in Hong Kong banks.
Chin, a naturalized American
since 1965, was a reserved man.
During his trial in U.S. District
Court in Alexandria, he maintained
a calm, quiet demeanor. While be-
ing taken from the courtroom just
after his conviction, Chin paused at
the door, turned to look at his wife
and sons in the gallery and stood for
a long moment staring sadly at
them.
Justice Department spokesman
John Russell said yesterday that the
department had not determined
whether Chin's family or estate
would be liable for the criminal fines
that would have resulted from his
sentencing. Russell said "we would
have to do some legal research" as
well as make an accounting of
Chin's assets and of whether the
family should be held responsible
for his wrongdoing.
U.S. District Judge Robert R.
Merhige Jr., who presided at the
trial, said yesterday, "I'm distressed
when a thing like this happens to
.anyone .... The family has my
sympathies." ., China."
Chin, a Quaker, said this week in
an interview for the CBS "Night- Staff writers John F. Harris and
watch" program that members of Saundra Saperstein contributed to
his faith "are noted for their cour- this report.
age to do things according to the
dictates of their conscience without
consideration of the consequences."
"Even if I can foresee the entire
... scenario, I think I will do it,"
Chin responded when asked if he
would do the spying over again.
Asked how he would respond to an
offer of political asylum from China,
Chin said, "If I can go to China, I
would go to China." Only a week be-
fore, asked the same question by re-
porters, Chin replied that he would
"have to think about it. This is my
country. I want to stay here."
"I am a patriot," he said in the
television interview, "of the United
States and the People's Republic of
A.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650019-5