Former aide to New York governors charged with acting as an agent of the Chinese government

(CNN) — A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government, US Attorney Breon Peace announced Tuesday.

Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, was also charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud as well as misusing means of identification, prosecutors said.

Their home was raided by federal investigators in July, according to sources.

Sun acted as “an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain,” prosecutors said.

Sun and Hu were arrested at their Long Island residence Tuesday morning.

Sun and Hu both pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court Tuesday afternoon. Sun’s bond is set at $1.5 million and her husband’s is set at $500,000. Both will have their travel limited to New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.

During the hearing, prosecutors highlighted how the defendants allegedly used multiple shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages – with everything in Mandarin – in their alleged crimes.

Defense attorney Seth DuCharme addressed reporters outside court Tuesday, saying “we have a lot of confidence in our case.”

“A lot of the allegations in this indictment are frankly perplexing, overly inflammatory,” he said. “As you heard in court today, we are looking forward to our day in court. The defendants are exercising their right to a speedy trial as soon as they can; we have a lot of confidence in Chris and in Linda.”

Their next status conference is set for September 25.

Sun “was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago. 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,” Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, said in a statement to CNN.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, 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.”

Allegations of unauthorized letters, money laundering and salted ducks from the Chinese government

Sun violated internal rules and state government protocols in order to benefit the Chinese government, according to court documents.

Among Sun’s activities, prosecutors say, she acted as an undisclosed agent of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, acting at their request and engaging in political activities to further the interests of the CCP.

The indictment details an effort by Sun to secure “unauthorized invitation letters” from the office of the governor which were then used to facilitate travel by government officials with the People’s Republic of China into the United States for meetings with state officials in New York.

Sun’s unauthorized letters included false statements about immigration documents and “induced the foreign citizens into unlawfully entering the United States,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also allege she tried to “facilitate a trip” to China by a high-level, unnamed New York politician.

Sun and her husband received “substantial economic and other benefits” which included millions of dollars in transactions for PRC business activities of Hu, travel benefits, tickets to events, employment for Sun’s cousin in the PRC, a delivery of “Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a PRC official’s personal chef” that were then delivered to the residence of Sun’s parents, among others, according to the indictment.

They also laundered the monetary proceeds to buy real estate in New York and Hawaii and various luxury vehicles, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege Sun blocked Taiwanese diplomacy and ensured Cuomo praised China for help with COVID-19

Sun is accused of acting at the request of the Chinese government and the CCP to block representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to state government officials because she knew CCP officials were “opposed to such diplomacy,” according to the court documents.

Prosecutors also said while the office of the governor did not have a position on recognizing Taiwan, Sun used her position to change both Cuomo’s and Hochul’s “messaging regarding issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP” and helped minimize interactions between the governor’s office and representatives from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US. Also known as TECO – the office serves as a de facto, yet unofficial, embassy to Taiwan. TECO maintains offices that provide consular and other services across various cities in the US, including New York.

Court documents show Sun used her position to block small shows of diplomacy. In January 2020, a TECO representative wrote a letter to Cuomo informing him of the latest presidential election results in Taiwan and requested a congratulatory message to be forwarded to Taipei. After an employee in the governor’s office flagged the request to Sun, she quickly blocked the effort, responding, “No letter; would set off political firestorm.”

By the time the pandemic arrived in New York, Sun was working behind the scenes to give Chinese officials access to New York government officials. In one instance, prosecutors say Sun added a Chinese official to a “private New York State government conference call concerning the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the administration’s response to rising hate crimes against Asian Americans.” The call was not open to the public.

As the pandemic took hold, court documents say Sun worked to ensure Cuomo was heaping public praise on Chinese officials for sending medical equipment to the city while simultaneously blocking Taiwan, which also sought public acknowledgment for providing 200,000 masks at the height of the pandemic which was ravaging New York.

In April 2020, a PRC official informed Sun that several Chinese foundations would donate 1,000 ventilators to the Greater New York Hospital Association, according to the indictment. In return, Sun told the official that Cuomo would call him to thank him for the donation. After waiting two hours for the call, the official complained that he had not yet heard from Cuomo. In turn, Sun apologized and indicated that Cuomo would thank him in public and on social media for facilitating the donation which was scheduled to arrive in New York the next day.

Cuomo is not identified by name in the indictment, but his tenure as governor aligns with the timeline of the allegations.

An archived X post shows Cuomo posted a message of thanks from his government account the next day.

“We finally got some good news today. The Chinese government helped facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will arrive in JFK today. I thank the Chinese government, Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, the Jack Ma Foundation, the Tsai Foundation and Consul General Huang,” the post reads.

Aide worked in New York government for over a decade

Sun has held several government titles for more than a decade. Public employment records and her LinkedIn profile show positions spanned across several agencies focused on New York’s economic development, labor and the executive chamber.

In 2009, Sun was hired as chief of staff in Rep. Grace Meng’s office when Meng was in the State Assembly. In 2012, Sun was hired by the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who named her director of Asian American affairs and Queens representative. Sun then went on to secure a post as director of external affairs for Empire State Development, which handles economic development across the state.

In 2018 she was re-hired by the Cuomo administration and named chief diversity officer; she later left that post for a job in the Department of Financial Services.

After Hochul had ascended to the top office in the state, Sun was hired as deputy chief of staff, serving for about a year before heading for a post as deputy commissioner for strategic business at the Department of Labor, which terminated her employment in March 2023.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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