State Department employee charged in making contacts with Chinese agents

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. State Department employee with access to sensitive information was accused of failing to report contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with gifts in exchange for diplomatic and economic information, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Candace Claiborne, 60, was charged in a Washington federal court with obstruction of justice and making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Claiborne appeared before a magistrate judge with her lawyer, David Bos, but both declined to speak to reporters. Claiborne will remain confined to house arrest until an April 18 preliminary hearing.

A complaint says Claiborne was given tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and wire transfers by Chinese agents beginning in 2011 in exchange for information about U.S. economic policy in relation to China and other diplomatic matters.

Claiborne and a co-conspirator not identified in court papers received such items as beads, a sewing machine, slippers cash, tuition payments to a fashion school in China and an all-expenses paid vacation to Thailand, prosecutors allege