A former senior adviser to two New York governors has been charged by US authorities with acting as a secret agent for the Chinese government.
Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was indicted on multiple counts along with her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, according to the U.S. attorney general. The couple are naturalized U.S. citizens.
This comes amid growing scrutiny in the United States over foreign influence operations that have been dismissed and rejected by China.
What are the charges?
Sun, 41, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien trafficking and money laundering conspiracy, according to an unsealed copy of the 64-page indictment.
Hu, her 40-year-old husband, was also charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, as well as improper use of identification means, according to prosecutors.
The couple's Long Island home was raided by federal investigators in July, and Sun had been fired from the governor's office for more than a year after officials were alerted to suspicious activity.
Both have pleaded not guilty and are expected to be released on bail of $1.5 million for Sun and $500,000 for Hu. They have been ordered to have no contact with the Chinese consulate and embassy, and their travel is limited to New York, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.
What exactly is he accused of?
Sun worked in U.S. state government for about 15 years, holding positions in the Cuomo administration before becoming Hochul's deputy chief of staff, according to public employment records and her LinkedIn profile.
She acted as an undisclosed agent of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party and engaged in political activities to promote Chinese interests, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York.
Sun obtained “unauthorized invitation letters” from the governor’s office that were used to allow Chinese government officials to enter the United States to meet with New York state officials, according to the indictment.
Some of his alleged crimes revolve around Taiwan and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many U.S. officials to attack China after the virus was found and spread from Wuhan, China.
Authorities said Sun blocked Taiwanese government representatives from communicating with senior New York state officials and altered messages from Cuomo and Hochul “on issues of importance” to the Chinese government.
After the pandemic, Sun worked to ensure Cuomo publicly thanked Chinese government officials for sending 1,000 ventilators and other medical equipment to the city, while blocking an effort by Taiwan to gain public recognition for donating masks.
Sun also allegedly made sure public speeches did not include mentions of China’s detention of Uighurs and, in one case, added a Chinese official to a private New York government conference call on the public health response to the pandemic.
How did the couple benefit from this?
According to US officials, Sun and her husband benefited greatly from influence operations, both at home and abroad. She is accused of orchestrating millions of dollars in business deals for her husband's China-linked company.
The couple is said to have been able to purchase their $4.1 million home in a gated community in Manhasset on Long Island, which authorities raided in July, using the proceeds, according to court documents.
They are also alleged to have used the money to purchase a $2.1 million condominium in Honolulu and several luxury cars, including a 2024 Ferrari.
Prosecutors said they received tickets to events, employment for Sun's cousin in China and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a Chinese government official's personal chef that were delivered to Sun's parents' home.
How is everyone reacting to this?
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, dismissed the allegations, saying U.S. authorities had filed similar cases in the past, only to see them fall apart.
“I don’t know the specifics, but in recent years, the U.S. government and media have frequently exaggerated stories about so-called ‘Chinese agents,’ many of which have later been shown to be false,” he said.
“China requires its citizens abroad to abide by the laws and regulations of the host country, and we firmly oppose groundless slander and defamation directed at China.”
Hochul told a local radio station Tuesday night that she was shocked and outraged by the alleged behavior.
“It was a betrayal of trust,” Hochul told WNYC of the allegations against Sun. The governor said her office fired Sun in March 2023, “at the time we discovered some levels of misconduct” and alerted authorities, but did not divulge further details.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement that national security “must be free from foreign influence.”
“While Ms. Sun was promoted to deputy chief of staff in the subsequent administration, during our time she worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor.”
How do the United States and China accuse each other?
Accusations of espionage and influence peddling between the United States and China are nothing new: both powers say the other has been trying to obtain information and affect decision-making for decades.
The rhetoric has only grown stronger amid China’s growing global influence and its emergence as a power aspiring to rival Washington. Both sides have stepped up arrests of people accused of working for foreign governments, and the military and technology sectors are also increasingly under scrutiny for espionage activities.
The latest public confrontation came last year, when the US claimed Chinese balloons flying over its territory were “clearly” for intelligence surveillance purposes. China claimed they were weather balloons and accused the US of flying its own high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace.
In a late January article in the American magazine Foreign Affairs titled Spycraft and Statecraft, CIA Director William Burns said the spy agency is significantly strengthening its efforts to address geopolitical competition, specifically with China.
China’s Ministry of State Security responded by saying the CIA has more than doubled the percentage of its overall budget going to China in the past two years, claiming Washington is hiring and training more Mandarin speakers and “expanding confrontation against China.”
