Former aide to N.Y. governor arrested as Chinese agent; FBI says Sun, husband rewarded for influence

The former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday and charged with working as an influence agent for the Chinese Communist Party, prosecutors disclosed in an unsealed indictment.

Linda Sun, the former aide, held several other positions in the administrations of Ms. Hochul and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, according to the federal indictment from the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Ms. Sun, 41, and her husband, Chris Hu, 40, were arrested at their $3.6 million Long Island home. They are charged with 10 criminal counts, including acting as unregistered agents of the Chinese government and the CCP and receiving “millions of dollars” through Chinese-government-linked businesses, the 64-page indictment states. They also were charged with money laundering.

The indictment says the couple spent the millions of dollars they received from the Chinese government on luxuries such as the house in Manhasset, New York, a $1.9 million condominium in Honolulu and a 2024 Ferrari.

“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 and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”

Ms. Sun and Mr. Hu both pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court in Brooklyn. 

Bail for Ms. Sun was set at $1.5 million and $500,000 for Mr. Hu. The court also limited their travel to New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.

If confirmed in court, the case will represent one of the most successful high-level Chinese government influence operations targeting a state government.

Ms. Sun, at the request of Chinese officials, blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor’s office, changed the positions of Mr. Cuomo and Ms. Hochul in official messaging to support Chinese positions, and obtained official governor proclamations for the Chinese government without proper authorization, the indictment states.

The operation sought to change high-level state officials’ statements “to align with the PRC government’s political priorities,” the indictment said.

According to the indictment, Ms. Sun wrote to a Chinese Consulate official in June 2016 to reveal how she succeeded in blocking Ms. Hochul from attending a Taiwanese government event and instead went to a Chinese Embassy reception.

The indictment included a photo of Ms. Sun participating in a Chinese protest against the Taiwanese president’s visit to New York City.

The influence activities included attempting to arrange for Ms. Hochul to visit China and arranging meetings for visiting Chinese officials with state officials, according to the indictment.

Ms. Sun, also known as Wen Sun, is a naturalized American born in China. She worked for the New York state government from 2012 to 2023.

The indictment names the former and current governors as “Politician 1” and “Politician 2.”

A spokesman for Ms. Hochul’s office said in a statement that Ms. Sun was fired after “evidence of misconduct” was uncovered, The New York Times reported.

“This individual 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,” the statement said.

Ms. Sun’s LinkedIn profile lists about 15 years of work for the state government, holding posts in the Cuomo administration and eventually becoming Ms. Hochul’s deputy chief of staff in September 2021.

She worked for the New York Department of Labor as deputy commissioner for strategic business development. She left that job in March 2023, the profile said.

After she left the Labor Department, Ms. Sun continued to attend Asian community events and falsely claimed to be the department’s deputy commissioner, the indictment said. Ms. Sun ended the practice after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the Labor Department in August 2023.

Mr. Hu operates several businesses in Queens, including a seafood export company, a financial consultancy and a wine and liquor store. The New York Times identified the businesses as Leivine Wine & Spirits, Medical Supplies USA, Golden Capital Group and LCA Holdings.

In September 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned in a speech that China was aggressively attempting to influence state and local governments to advance its strategic and political goals.

The CCP and its proxies “aim to make Americans receptive to Beijing’s form of authoritarianism,” Mr. Pompeo said.

An unidentified co-conspirator mentioned in the indictment was the president of an association of people from Henan province in China. The nonprofit association was “closely associated” with the United Front Work Department, the CCP organ conducting influence and intelligence-gathering operations worldwide. The FBI said Ms. Sun is an agent for the department.

“The UFWD was a CCP department that attempted to manage relationships with and generate support for the CCP among elite individuals inside and outside the PRC, including by gathering human intelligence,” the indictment said.

“After 2018, the UFWD reported directly to the CCP’s Central Committee, a national party organization that helped drive political decision making in the PRC,” the indictment said.

The co-conspirator worked with Ms. Sun to arrange for Chinese officials to visit the United States by writing a fraudulent letter from the New York state government that was submitted to the State Department by the officials, the indictment said.

Ms. Sun traveled to China in 2019 to attend United Front meetings, the indictment said.

The Chinese government used the co-conspirator to work with Ms. Sun to arrange a trip to China by Ms. Hochul when she was lieutenant governor in 2019. Ms. Hochul declined the trip.

Outraged New York Republicans called for investigations into Ms. Hochul’s administration and the overall national security threat.

“From allowing Chinese police stations, to maintaining a sister city partnership between NYC and Beijing, this is another example of New York Democrats facilitating the influence campaign of Communist China,” Rep. Elise Stefanik said in a statement.

The New York State Conservative Party said the indictment “demands an immediate and exhaustive federal and state investigation to determine just how much damage this spy network has done.”

“Last year we learned that the Chinese Communist Party was establishing ‘police precincts’ in New York and elsewhere to track and harass anti-Communist Americans, Chinese expatriates, citizens of the democratic Republic of China (ROC) living in the U.S., and others. Now we learn that a former deputy chief of staff to two New York State governors was an agent for the Chinese Communist Party the whole time she served. The situation is intolerable.”

Ms. Sun received small gifts from Chinese officials, including tickets to performances by a visiting Chinese orchestra and ballet groups and duck prepared by the personal chef of a Chinese government official and delivered to Ms. Sun’s parents’ home in New York, the indictment says.

None of the benefits was disclosed to the government as required of public officials.

Ms. Sun came to the attention of the FBI in July 2020 when she was questioned by agents about her travel to China and concealed the Chinese funding of the travel, the indictment said.

The charges stem from a failure to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which has been used over the past eight years to prosecute suspected Chinese influence and other agents.

Ms. Sun is charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money laundering and helping people commit visa fraud and enter the U.S. illegally. Mr. Hu is charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.

Four officials from the Chinese Consulate in New York were part of the influence operation, along with an unidentified Chinese front group.

“As alleged in the indictment, Linda Sun, a former New York State government employee, acted as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Christopher Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain,” said FBI acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis.

“Sun wielded her position of influence among executives to covertly promote PRC and CCP agendas, directly threatening our country’s national security,” she said.

Seth DuCharme and Nicole Boeckmann, lawyers for Mr. Hu, had no comment.

Kenneth M. Abell, a lawyer for Ms. Sun, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.