A Sydney businessman has been accused of providing false security advice to Chinese spies, claiming it originated from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The jury heard that the businessman, Alexander Csergo, compiled reports on various topics, including lithium, iron ore, the German government, the Aukus security agreement, and the Quad diplomatic partnership, and provided them to individuals he believed were working for China's Ministry of State Security. Csergo, who was living in Shanghai and working on data-sensitive telecoms projects, was approached on LinkedIn in November 2021 and communicated with two individuals, 'Ken' and 'Evelyn', until March 2023. The reports were fabricated and included quotes from fake interviews with Rudd and other individuals. Csergo's barrister argued that his client made a commercial decision to provide the information for money, and that the only deception was passing off material written by others as his own. The trial continues.
