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A former adviser to New York governor Kathy Hochul was charged with acting as an unregistered agent for China, allegedly using her position to prevent senior state politicians from meeting Taiwanese officials and helping visiting Chinese delegations fraudulently obtain visas.
Linda Sun, a 41-year-old Chinese-born American citizen who also worked in former governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration, is accused in a federal criminal indictment of attempting to make her bosses’ public statements more favourable to the Chinese at Beijing’s behest; of arranging visits for Chinese officials; and sidelining diplomatic approaches to the governor’s office from Taiwanese representatives in the US.
She is further accused of removing references to “Republic of China”, Taiwan’s official name, from a statement made by Cuomo saluting US and Taiwanese troops, and obtaining fake letters from Hochul’s office inviting Chinese government officials to New York, which were allegedly fraudulently used by a visiting delegation to obtain US visas.
US prosecutors also alleged that Sun — who was a deputy chief diversity officer and advised the governor’s office on relations with the Asian-American community — removed references to the plight of the Uyghur people, an oppressed minority in China, from Hochul’s Lunar New Year message in 2021, when she was lieutenant-governor.
“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant . . . actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the [Chinese Communist party],” said Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the charges. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”
Sun was arrested on Tuesday and charged alongside her husband, Chris Hu, an American citizen who ran a seafood export business in Queens, among other enterprises. They are accused of receiving substantial economic benefits in exchange for illegal work, including “the facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions” for Hu’s China-based business activities.
Prosecutors allege she used laundered money to buy properties worth millions of dollars in Long Island, New York, and Hawaii’s Honolulu, and to buy luxury cars, including a 2024 Ferrari Roma. PRC officials also allegedly provided Sun with tickets to a Chinese ballet event and a Chinese orchestral performance at Carnegie Hall, as well as dozens of Nanjing-style salted ducks delivered to her parents’ home on several occasions.
A spokesman for Hochul said Sun was hired by the governor’s office “more than a decade ago”, under Cuomo’s administration adding: “We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process.”
A lawyer for Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment comes as US law enforcement steps up investigations into political influence operations by China and people with connections to China, as well as violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires individuals who attempt to exert influence on behalf of a foreign power to register with the US Department of Justice.
FBI director Christopher Wray has repeatedly raised concerns about political influence, including a 2022 case in which a Chinese government agent was accused of trying to intimidate a candidate for US Congress.
The DoJ recently indicted Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst and well-known Korea expert who was accused of acting as an agent of the South Korean government. She has denied the charges.
Additional reporting by Joshua Chaffin in New York
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