The State Department says a U.S. government employee has been banned from leaving China while traveling there in a personal capacity.

China is preventing a Chinese American banker for Wells Fargo and, separately, an employee of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from leaving the country.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Chenyue Mao, the Wells Fargo banker who has been blocked from leaving the country, was involved in a criminal case and obliged to cooperate with the investigation.