In this Sept 15, 2015 photo, Sherry Chen, a former National Weather Service hydrologist, speaks about the dropped charges against her of spying for China, during a press conference in Washington, D.C. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)
NEW YORK – Chinese American scientist Sherry Chen has won a historic settlement with the US government in her two lawsuits seeking accountability for her wrongful prosecution and termination from her job.
Chen, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service, will receive $550,000 from the Department of Commerce and an annuity from the US government valued at $1.25 million over 10 years, she said in a statement on Thursday.
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In addition, the Commerce Department is hosting a private meeting between Chen and a senior agency official, and it is providing Chen with a letter that acknowledges her extensive accomplishments during her tenure as a US government hydrologist.
The settlement is one of the largest paid to an individual plaintiff in Commerce Department history, said the American Civil Liberties Union
"Of course, no amount of money can ever fully repair the injustices I've experienced. But today's settlement is a critically important step toward achieving justice for myself and for so many Chinese Americans who have been subjected to unjustified government scrutiny," Chen said.
The settlement is one of the largest paid to an individual plaintiff in Commerce Department history, according to a press release issued by the American Civil Liberties Union on its webpage on Thursday.
In 2012, the Commerce Department's internal security unit, known as the Investigations and Threat Management Service, began unlawfully investigating Chen, which later led to her baseless arrest and prosecution by the FBI and Justice Department.
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She was publicly arrested in 2014 for allegedly stealing sensitive information. The lack of evidence led the Justice Department to drop its charges against Chen in 2015. But her employment had been terminated.
Chen's case, widely considered as part of a broad pattern of discrimination directed at Chinese Americans, has sparked an outcry in the US.