A former New York state government official who worked for former Governor Andrew Cuomo and current Governor Kathy Hochul was charged Tuesday with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors said in a lengthy indictment.
Linda Sun, who held numerous positions in New York state government before rising to become Hochul’s deputy chief of staff, was arrested Tuesday morning along with her husband, Chris Hu, at their $3.5 million Long Island home.
Prosecutors said Sun denied Taiwanese government officials access to the governor’s office at the request of Chinese officials, manipulated New York government messages to match Chinese government priorities and attempted to arrange a trip to China for a senior New York politician, the indictment said. Hu is accused of conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of identification documents.
In return, she and her husband received perks, including support for Hu’s China-based business activities and unspecified tickets to performances by Chinese orchestras and ballet troupes, the indictment says. The personal chef of a Chinese government official prepared “Nanjing-style salted ducks” that were delivered to Sun’s parents’ home, it says.
The couple then laundered the proceeds and used them to buy their Manhasset estate, a $1.9 million condo in Hawaii and luxury cars, including a 2024 Ferrari, the indictment says.
“As alleged, the defendant and her husband, while purporting to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff in the … State Executive Chamber, were in fact pursuing the interests of the Chinese government and the country’s Communist Party,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “The illegal scheme enriched the defendant’s family by millions of dollars.”
Sun’s attorney, Seth DuCharme, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Sun and Hu are scheduled to make their first court appearance Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn said.
The indictment describes a series of conversations Sun had with officials at the Chinese consulate in New York in January 2021, when Cuomo was still governor and Hochul was lieutenant governor. Neither politician is named in the document, instead referring to them as “Politician 1” and “Politician 2.”
After Chinese officials asked the governor for a Chinese New Year video, Sun said Hochul could probably do so and asked for “talking points on the things you think she should mention.”
“Mostly holiday wishes and hopes for friendship and cooperation / Nothing too political,” an officer told her, according to the indictment.
Sun later told another official that she had argued with Hochul’s speechwriter over the draft because he insisted on mentioning the “situation of the Uighurs” in China. She promised not to allow that, and the final speech did not mention the Muslim ethnic minority, the indictment said.
The FBI searched the couple’s $3.5 million Manhasset home in late July, but did not release any details at the time.
Sun worked in state government for about 15 years, holding jobs in Cuomo’s administration and eventually becoming Hochul’s deputy chief of staff, according to her LinkedIn profile. In November 2022, Sun took a job at the New York Department of Labor as deputy commissioner for strategic business development, but left that job months later in March 2023, according to the profile.
A spokesman for Hochul’s office said in a statement that the government fired Sun after “discovering evidence of misconduct.”
“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 reporting her actions to law enforcement, and assisting law enforcement throughout the process,” the statement said.
A spokesman for Cuomo did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Sun and Hu live in a gated community called Stone Hill on Long Island. The couple bought the home in 2021 but transferred it into a trust earlier this year, records show.
