A former senior aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul was charged Tuesday with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government.
Linda Sun, Hochul's former deputy chief of staff, is being charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, federal prosecutors said in a statement released Tuesday.
Sun was hired by New York state's Executive Chamber more than 10 years ago and was terminated in March 2023 when her alleged illegal activities were discovered. She held positions in several agencies during that time.
Sun is alleged to have acted on behalf of the government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party while working for the New York state government.
Sun "never registered as a foreign agent," federal prosecutors said, and "actively concealed that she took actions at the order, request or direction of PRC government and the CCP representatives."
Sun and her husband, co-defendant Chris Hu, were arrested at their Long Island home Tuesday before pleading not guilty during their arraignment in Brooklyn federal court in the afternoon.
Hu faces money laundering charges in addition to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said that while Sun worked for Hochul in the deputy chief of staff capacity, she and her husband "actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP."
"The illicit scheme enriched the defendant's family to the tune of millions of dollars," Peace said.
While allegedly working for both the New York state government and China, Sun was successful in preventing Taiwanese government officials access to high-level New York officials said.
Sun is also reported to have changed the messaging of high-level New York state officials about issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP. She also allegedly obtained official New York state proclamations for PRC government officials without proper authorization.
Other charges against Sun include an attempt to facilitate a high-level New York state politician's trip to China and scheduling meetings for visiting Chinese government delegations with New York state government officials.
Sun and Hu received significant economic rewards by working for China, including facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions for Hu's China-based business activities, travel benefits, the promotion of a close family friend's business and employment for Sun's cousin in China. Prosecutors said the benefits also included Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a Chinese government official's personal chef that were given to Sun's parents.
Sun and her husband "laundered millions of dollars for the foreign country and used the monetary benefits of this scheme to buy luxury vehicles and million-dollar properties here in New York," said Thomas M. Fattorusso, special agent in charge of criminal investigations at the Internal Revenue Service in New York.
With their laundered money, the couple purchased a $4.1 million house on Long Island, a $2.1 million condominium in Honolulu, Hawaii, and several expensive cars, including a 2024 Ferrari.
Sun never reported any of the benefits she received from China, as was required as a New York state government employee.
Meanwhile, Hu unlawfully laundered money through bank accounts he opened in a relative's name but were entirely for Hu's exclusive use, prosecutors said. In addition, Hu unlawfully used an image of the relative's driver's license to open the accounts.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
