A former senior adviser to New York Governor Kathy Hochul was charged on Tuesday with acting as a secret agent of the Chinese government.
Linda Sun, Hochul’s former deputy chief of staff, faces charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, human smuggling and conspiracy to commit money laundering, federal prosecutors said in a statement released Tuesday.
Sun was hired by the New York State Executive Chamber more than 10 years ago and was fired in March 2023 when her alleged illegal activities were discovered. During that time, she held positions in several agencies.
Sun is alleged to have acted on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party of China while working for the government of New York State.
Sun “never registered as a foreign agent,” federal prosecutors said, and “actively concealed that she was acting on the orders, requests or instructions of the government of the People’s Republic of China and officials of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Sun and her husband, co-defendant Chris Hu, were arrested at their Long Island home on Tuesday before pleading not guilty at their afternoon arraignment in federal court in Brooklyn.
Hu is charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of identity documents.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said that while Sun worked as deputy chief of staff for Hochul, she and her husband “actually worked to advance the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP.”
“The illegal scheme enriched the defendant’s family by several million dollars,” Peace said.
While allegedly working for both the New York State government and China, Sun was said to have managed to deny Taiwanese government officials access to high-ranking New York officials.
Sun is also alleged to have altered messages from high-ranking New York state officials on issues of importance to the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party. She is also alleged to have obtained official New York State proclamations for Chinese government officials without proper authorization.
Other charges against Sun include attempting to arrange for a high-ranking New York State politician to travel to China and arranging meetings between Chinese government delegations and New York State government officials.
Sun and Hu received significant economic benefits from their work for China, including brokering millions of dollars in transactions for Hu’s China-based business activities, travel grants, promoting the business of a close family friend and employing Sun’s cousin in China. Prosecutors said the benefits also included Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by the personal chef of a Chinese government official and distributed to Sun’s parents.
Sun and her husband “laundered millions of dollars for foreign countries and used the financial gains from this scheme to purchase luxury cars and real estate worth millions here in New York,” said Thomas M. Fattorusso, special agent for the New York Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
With the laundered money, the couple bought a $4.1 million home on Long Island, a $2.1 million condo in Honolulu, Hawaii, and several expensive cars, including a 2024 Ferrari.
Sun never disclosed what benefits she had received from China, even though she was required to do so as an employee of the New York State government.
Meanwhile, Hu illegally laundered money through bank accounts he opened in the name of a relative but which were for Hu’s sole use, prosecutors said. Hu also illegally used a picture of the relative’s driver’s license to open the accounts.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
