Duggan, a naturalized Australian, “provided military training to [People’s Republic of China] pilots” on at least three known occasions between 2010 and 2012, said the document unsealed in December by the District of Columbia court.

The training was offered through a South African flight academy with a presence in China. The school hired teachers with “knowledge and experience in naval aviation meeting [NATO] standards,” the document said, with the training taking place in China, South Africa and other locations.

“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,” said the indictment.

Around the same period, Duggan allegedly received 12 payments totaling approximately $80,000 for providing “personal development training” and other services to Chinese pilots, in actions U.S. prosecutors said violated an arms and defense services embargo on China.

He negotiated directly with an unnamed Chinese national and was compensated by the individual’s China-based business, the document said. In China in 2012, while negotiating the terms of his services, Duggan wrote in an email that “he hoped his children would be set for life as a result.”

Duggan, 54, spent over a decade flying for the U.S. Marine Corps between 1989 and 2002. He later renounced his U.S. citizenship after moving to Australia, where he was naturalized in 2012, his family said.

The State Department emailed the former Marine as early as 2008 to notify him to apply for written authorization before he could instruct foreign pilots, according to the court document, which referenced another eight unnamed coconspirators, including a former U.S. Navy officer and fighter pilot, who were involved in the training program.

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

The air instructor, whose LinkedIn profile shows aviation-related business interests in China in the past decade, faces four charges including conspiracy to unlawfully export defense services to China, conspiracy to launder money, and two counts of arms export and trafficking violations.

Among the charges is an allegation that Duggan’s associates used false information to acquire a T-2 Buckeye, a training aircraft used by the Navy and Marines, for use by the South African test flying company.

Australian police arrested Duggan at the request of the FBI on October 21, 2022, in the New South Wales town of Orange.

Canberra recently approved a December 9 request by the U.S. for his extradition, Australia’s Attorney-General’s Department said on Thursday. A state magistrate will hear the matter on January 10.

After retiring from the U.S. military, Duggan founded an aviation company in Tasmania called Top Gun Australia, which was deregistered in 2017, according to the country’s business register.

The company website described Duggan as a “senior weapons and tactical instructor” who conducted hundreds of landings on seven different aircraft carriers during his time with the Marines.

Dennis Miralis, Duggan’s lawyer, told the press that his client hadn’t breached any U.S., Australian or international laws.

In an online petition for his release, Duggan’s wife, Saffrine, described the ex-Marine as having been “caught in a geopolitical storm for working in China.” The father of six’s case was “clearly politically motivated,” she wrote.

“Daniel now finds himself a victim of the United States government’s political dispute with China, by no fault of his own,” the petition read. “Australians will not stand for interference by the United States in our country.”

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