Nashville, Tennessee — An Army soldier has pleaded guilty to charges that accuse him of selling sensitive information related to U.S. military capabilities to China, including dozens of documents covering topics ranging from rocket systems to Chinese military tactics.
Sergeant Korbein Schultz, who was also an intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Nashville. He had previously pleaded not guilty and then requested a hearing last month to change his plea.
According to prosecutors, Shultz received at least 14 payments totaling $42,000.
Schultz was charged with six counts, including conspiracy to obtain and disclose military information and bribery of a public official. The 24-year-old was arrested in March at Fort Campbell, which straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky border, shortly after the indictment was unsealed.
He has pleaded guilty to all charges and will be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2025. A federal public defender representing Schultz declined to comment Tuesday.
“Let this case serve as a warning: If any member of the military, current or former, is asked to provide classified or sensitive information, they must report it to the proper authorities within 24 hours or be held fully accountable for their inaction,” Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command, said in a news release.
The indictment alleges that Schultz—who had a top secret security clearance—conspired with an individual identified only as “Conspirator A” to disclose various documents, photographs, and other national defense materials beginning in June 2022. The indictment says Schultz was recruited by the individual not only because of his security clearance, but also because he was tasked with collecting sensitive U.S. military information.
Among the information Schultz allegedly provided to the individual was information relating to rocket, missile and artillery systems, including the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System; hypersonic equipment; counter-drone tactics; U.S. military satellites; studies on future developments of U.S. military forces; and studies on military exercises and operations in major countries such as China.
The indictment states that Schultz was initially asked to provide documents detailing lessons that could be learned from Russia’s war against Ukraine and how those lessons could be applied to the United States to assist Taiwan in the event of an attack. Schultz was paid $200 for this information, which then prompted Conspirator A to request a “long-term partnership.”
Conspirator A, described in the indictment as a foreign national claiming to reside in Hong Kong, later suggested that Schultz could make more money if he turned over “internal only” documents rather than unclassified documents.
