The Daily Populous Sunday September 8th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by taike0886

A former aide to two New York governors was charged Tuesday with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government who used her state positions to subtly advance Beijing’s agenda in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars.

Linda Sun, who held numerous posts in New York state government, including deputy chief of staff for Gov. Kathy Hochul and deputy diversity officer for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was arrested Tuesday morning along with her husband, Chris Hu, at their $4 million home on Long Island.

Federal prosecutors said Sun, at the request of Chinese officials, blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor’s office and shaped New York governmental messaging to align with the priorities of the Chinese government, among other things.

In return, her husband got help for his business activities in China — a financial boost that prosecutors said allowed the couple to buy their multimillion-dollar property in Manhasset, New York, a condominium in Hawaii for $1.9 million, and luxury cars including a 2024 Ferrari, the indictment said.

Sun also received smaller gifts, the indictment said, including tickets to performances by a visiting Chinese orchestra and ballet groups and “Nanjing-style salted ducks” that were prepared by the personal chef of a Chinese government official and delivered to Sun’s parents’ home in New York.

If true, the allegations show that Chinese authorities were able to gain influence at the highest levels of state government in New York for nearly a decade.

“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,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said, using the acronym for the Chinese Communist Party. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”

Sun and Hu pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance on Tuesday afternoon in Brooklyn and will be released on bond. Sun has been barred from having any contact with the People’s Republic of China’s consulate and mission.

Her defense lawyer, Jarrod Schaeffer, said, “We’re looking forward to addressing these charges in court. Our client is understandably upset that these charges have been brought.”

The case is part of a broader Justice Department effort to root out secret agents for the Chinese government operating in the U.S. In recent years, federal authorities have charged Chinese nationals not only with covertly advancing Beijing’s interests but also with harassing and intimidating dissidents on the government’s behalf.

Last year, the Justice Department charged a pair of men with establishing a secret police station in New York City while acting under the direction and control of the Chinese government.

Sun, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, 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 she left that job months later in March 2023, the profile said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Hochul’s office said the administration 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 reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” the statement reads.

The indictment said that, among other things, Sun worked to ensure that representatives of Taiwan’s government couldn’t get meetings with high-ranking New York state officials. The Chinese government considers Taiwan to be part of China.

It also outlined a series of exchanges Sun had with officials in the Chinese Consulate in New York in January 2021, when Cuomo was still governor and Hochul was lieutenant governor. Neither leader is named in the document but are instead referred to as “Politician-1” and “Politician-2.”

After Chinese officials requested a Lunar New Year video from the governor, Sun said Hochul could probably do it and asked for “talking points of things you want her to mention.”

“Mostly holiday wishes and hope for friendship and cooperation / Nothing too political,” an official told her, according to the indictment.

Sun later told a different official that she had argued with Hochul’s speechwriter over the draft, because the speechwriter insisted on mentioning the “Uyghur situation” in China. She promised that she wouldn’t let that happen, and the final speech did not mention the Muslim ethnic minority, according to the indictment.

Sun’s alleged activities in New York paved the way for lucrative business deals for Hu in China, prosecutors said, including discussions about a venture to export frozen seafood to China. Hu then attempted to conceal the earnings through various methods in the U.S., according to the indictment.

At the arraignment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon said there were a “multitude of shell and business entities” used in the crimes, adding, “This is no ordinary financial fraud.”

The FBI searched the couple’s multimillion home in Manhasset in late July but declined to release details at the time.

Sun is charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money laundering and helping people commit visa fraud and enter the U.S. illegally. Hu is charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification. Neither has been charged with espionage.

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi downplayed Sun’s reach in the former governor’s administration, saying she “worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor.”

Sun and Hu live in a gated community on Long Island called Stone Hill. The couple purchased the house in 2021 but placed it in a trust earlier this year, records show.

Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister in New York and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

taike0886 on September 7th, 2024 at 18:05 UTC »

Linda Sun, former aide to the current New York Governor Kathy Hochul as well as former governor Andrew Cuomo was arrested on Tuesday along with her husband Chris Hu and charged with acting as an illegal agent to the Chinese government Prosecutors said that Sun acted on behalf of the Chinese government to advance Beijing's agenda in the state capitol In return, both her and her husband received assistance from Chinese officials toward their business activities in China, allowing the couple to buy a multimillion dollar property on Long Island, a $1.9 million condo in Hawaii and a Ferrari The indictment charges Sun with failure to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, and her husband with other charges relating to the facilitating and transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Chinese government Prosecutors said Sun and Hu operated more than 80 different accounts and most of the evidence is in Chinese, including a WeChat message in which Sun is quoted telling a Chinese official, "I have done many things to make the relationship ... flourish." The indictment alleges that, acting at the request of Chinese government officials and representatives of the Chinese Communist Party, Sun blocked Taiwanese government officials from having access to high-level New York State officers, changed New York State officers' messaging about China and arranged meetings for visiting delegations from the PRC government with New York State government officials A "furious" Gov Hochul called the allegations against Sun "brazen," "shocking" and "a betrayal of trust" during an appearance on WNYC