Sherry Chen called her landmark settlement more than just a personal victory.
The $1.5 million the U.S. government agreed to pay her this past week after a yearslong battle against false accusations that she was a Chinese spy mark a win for all Asian Americans, she said during a private event in Silicon Valley over the weekend.
“And,” she added, “for the rule of law.”
Chen, a Chinese immigrant and naturalized U.S. citizen, made national news when she was arrested on economic espionage charges in 2014 while working as a National Weather Service hydrologist.
The government accused her of using a stolen password to download information about dams and vital infrastructure and then sharing those findings with a former grad school classmate who worked for the Chinese government. Though the charges were dropped before the case went to trial, they cost Chen the NWS job.
But the case also sparked a national debate over whether Chen and other scientists facing similar allegations were racially targeted by federal law enforcement.
Chen went on to file a civil lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees NWS. Multiple organizations filed briefs in the case to support Chen, including the American Civil Liberties Union. Earlier this month, the legal fight resulted in Chen landing one of the largest settlements ever paid by the Department of Commerce to an individual plaintiff.
Chen said she considers her legal battle as part of a broader cause, one that will...
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