- A former top aide to New York's governor has been accused of secretly working for China.
- Prosecutors say Linda Sun carried out tasks for Beijing like blocking Taiwan's access to authorities.
Federal prosecutors have accused a former high-level aide to New York's governor of secretly working for China in exchange for perks like orchestra tickets, millions in cash, and over a dozen Nanjing-style salted ducks.
Linda Sun, who worked for Gov. Kathy Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, was charged on Tuesday with over 10 criminal counts, including visa fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Sun, 40, is accused of blocking Taiwanese officials' access to the New York governor's office and changing public messages from both governors to boost China's talking points, among other acts.
According to the Justice Department, she also sent messages informing the Chinese consulate about Taiwan's requests to the governor's office.
"It's all been taken of satisfactorily," she is alleged to written in a message to a Chinese official in 2016.
"Just an FYI, I already blocked it," she also wrote in 2019 when the office of Taiwan's president invited Cuomo to a banquet, per prosecutors.
Court filings unsealed on Tuesday said that Sun held several high-level positions while working for over a decade in the New York government, including as director for Asian-American affairs and Queens regional representative under Cuomo.
She was promoted to deputy chief of staff under Hochul in September 2021, and went on to become deputy commissioner for strategic business development in the New York Labor Department from September 2022 to 2023.
Prosecutors said that during this time, Sun would use bogus invitation letters to set up meetings for Chinese officials with New York authorities. At one point, she also tried to organize a trip to China for Hochul, per court filings.
"Sun wielded her position of influence among executives to covertly promote PRC and CCP agendas, directly threatening our country's national security," said FBI Acting Assistant Director Curtis, referring to China's official name and the Chinese Communist Party.
Ducks, VIP suite access, and a condo in Honolulu
In return, Sun received a slew of undeclared gifts, including ballet and orchestra tickets, VIP suite access at sporting events, promotion for a friend's company, and millions of dollars to the China-based business of her husband, Chris Hu, per court filings.
Investigators said Sun also received salted ducks prepared by the personal chef of an official at the Chinese consulate, receiving them on four occasions from 2021 to 2022. Court documents say she got up to six ducks at a time.
Federal prosecutors added that Sun was also rewarded with a job for her cousin in China and received benefits from local officials when traveling with a colleague for a work trip to Jiangsu province.
Per the Justice Department, Sun and Hu used the money they received from Chinese officials to buy at least two properties — one in Manhasset, New York, that's now worth $4.1 million, and a condominium in Honolulu, worth $2.1 million.
They also bought luxury cars like a 2024 Ferrari, the officials added.
Hu has been charged by the Justice Department too, and is accused of laundering money and opening bank accounts with a relative's driver's license photo.
A spokesperson for Hochul told Business Insider that the New York governor's office hired Sun more than 10 years 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," they said.
When Hochul was asked on Tuesday about Sun by WNYC's radio podcast "All Things Considered," the governor said that the aide was fired "the second we discovered some levels of misconduct."
She declined to say which of Sun's behaviors were flagged by her office.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told BI he was unaware of the specific details of Sun's case.
"But in recent years, the US government and media have frequently hyped up the so-called 'Chinese agents' narratives, many of which have later been proven untrue," he said in a statement, adding that the embassy opposed "the groundlessly slandering and smearing targeting China."
Jarrod Schaeffer, Sun's lawyer, told the Associated Press on Tuesday: "We're looking forward to addressing these charges in court. Our client is understandably upset that these charges have been brought."
Schaeffer and a spokesperson for Cuomo did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by BI.