A former New York official is accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government. Here’s a timeline of her alleged actions
By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN
(CNN) — Allegations of money laundering, falsified signatures and surreptitious communications fill the federal indictment brought against Linda Sun, a longtime New York governors’ aide who was charged Tuesday with acting as an agent for the Chinese government.
Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and aide to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, faces 10 counts, including violating the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment.
Federal prosecutors allege Sun has been operating for years as an undisclosed agent of the People’s Republic of China, using her high-ranking positions in New York government to fulfill the PRC’s requests and further the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.
In the indictment, prosecutors lay out Sun’s alleged efforts to allow the PRC access to private government communications, influence the governors’ public remarks on China and block the Taiwanese government from communicating with Cuomo and Hochul.
As Sun served in high-ranking positions in New York, her husband, Chris Hu, is accused of orchestrating the transfer of millions of dollars in “kickbacks” from the PRC, which the couple used to purchase expensive properties and luxury cars, prosecutors said. Hu was also charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud as well as misusing means of identification.
During a federal court hearing Tuesday, prosecutors alleged the defendants used shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages – with everything in Mandarin – in their alleged crimes.
Sun and Hu both pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday afternoon. Sun’s bond is set at $1.5 million and her husband’s is set at $500,000. Both will have their travel limited to New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.
An attorney for Sun, Jarrod Schaeffer, told CNN the charges “are inflammatory and appear to be the product of an overly aggressive prosecution.”
“We are also troubled by aspects of the government’s investigation. As we said today in court, our client is eager … to defend against these accusations in the proper forum – a court of law,” Schaeffer said.
Here is a timeline of some of the key allegations against Sun as she moved through the New York State government:
Prosecution’s timeline of allegations against Sun
August 2012: Sun is hired by then-Gov. Cuomo’s administration as director of Asian American affairs and Queens representative. She left the office in 2015 to be the director of external affairs for Empire State Development, which handles economic development across the state.
June 9, 2016: Sun messaged a PRC official to inform them the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, which effectively serves as the island’s embassy in the US, had invited then-Lieutenant Gov. Hochul to appear at SelectUSA, an investment summit in Washington, DC, to be held later that month, according to the indictment.
“They sent the invitation to another colleague trying to bypass me. I am working on it right now to resolve the issue,” Sun wrote to the PRC official, according to the indictment. Later, Sun followed up to say, “It’s all been taken care of satisfactorily.”
Prosecutors note that on June 21, 2016, Hochul attended a SelectUSA reception hosted by the PRC Embassy and the China General Chamber of Commerce – USA, instead of an event held by Taiwan.
February 2018: Sun became Cuomo’s deputy chief diversity officer.
March 2018: Prosecutors accuse Sun of committing visa fraud by supplying unauthorized invitation letters on behalf of the governor’s office to a delegation of PRC representatives, which helped the delegation obtain visas to enter the US, according to the indictment.
The letters, which Sun was not authorized to issue or sign, bore falsified handwritten versions of Hochul’s signature, the indictment alleges.
The PRC delegation from the Henan Province arrived in the US in June 2018, where they met with Hochul to discuss economic cooperation between their province and New York, the document said.
January 2019: Sun wrote to a PRC official, “I very much value my relationship with the consulate and have done many things to make the relationship between the state and the consulate flourish during my tenure with (Politician-1),” according to the indictment. Though Politician 1 is unnamed, Sun was serving under Cuomo at the time.
“Certainly I have managed to stop all relationships between the TECO and the state. I have denied all (r)equests from their office,” Sun said, according to the indictment.
The PRC official responded, “I know and do appreciate your help” and referred to Sun as “the most important hub connecting us with (Politician-1) and his team,” the document said.
March 16, 2020: Sun gave an unnamed Chinese official access to a private conference call held by New York State government leaders discussing their response to the Covid-19 pandemic and rising hate crimes against Asian Americans, the indictment alleges.
Sun, who was then acting as deputy chief diversity officer under Cuomo, “surreptitiously added” the PRC official to the call, though the official was not on the invitation list, the indictment alleges.
“At the close of the call, PRC Official-4 commented that the call was ‘(v)ery useful,’” it adds.
Prosecutors listed the call as evidence Sun allegedly violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
July 2020: Sun moved to the New York State Department of Financial Services, where she worked as Superintendent for Intergovernmental Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer.
Sometime in 2021: In 2021, Sun and Hu purchased millions of dollars in real estate, which prosecutors said was possible due to hefty financial rewards from their alleged efforts to aid the PRC, according to the indictment.
Sometime that year, the couple purchased a $3.6 million parcel of real estate in Manhasset, New York, and a $1.9 million ocean-view condominium in Honolulu, Hawaii, the indictment said. The couple didn’t take out any mortgage loans to make the purchases, the document notes.
Prosecutors noted the couple’s spending far outpaced the income noted on their federal tax returns that year. But shortly before making the purchases, Hu received more than $2.1 million in wire transfers from a PRC-based account under the name of his business partner, the indictment alleges.
“Sun did not report the real estate acquisitions on her financial disclosure statements, as she was obligated to do,” the indictment reads.
January 2021: Sun worked to remove mention of China’s mass detention of Muslim Uyghurs from Hochul’s public remarks, according to the indictment.
On January 12, after receiving a request from a PRC official, Sun said she would ask Hochul to record a video in honor of Lunar New Year, the document said. She asked the officials, “Can you share with me some talking points of things you want her to mention(?) I can make sure to include it in her remarks.”
A few days later, Sun told the PRC official she had argued with Hochul’s speechwriter, who had insisted the then-lieutenant governor should mention “the ‘Uyghur situation,’” the indictment said. Sun said she would not allow Hochul to mention the Uyghurs, it added.
Ultimately, Hochul did not mention the Uyghurs in her public Lunar New Year message, the indictment said.
That same month, the US officially determined China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims and ethnic and religious minority groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. China strongly denied allegations of human rights abuses.
August 24, 2021: Hochul became governor of New York after Cuomo resigned amid a parade of scandals. The following month, Sun became Deputy Chief of Staff in the governor’s office and served as Hochul’s advisor.
September 2022: Sun transferred to the New York State Department of Labor as its Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Business Development.
January 2023: After receiving a request from PRC government representatives, Sun obtained an unauthorized proclamation from the New York Governor’s Office to be presented at an event celebrating the Lunar New Year, prosecutors said.
“Sun obtained this proclamation from an Office of Correspondence employee outside ordinary channels and did not follow protocol by seeking supervisory authorization to create such a proclamation,” the indictment reads.
The Office of Correspondence employee mailed the proclamation to Sun’s personal address, and Sun sent a gift basket to the home of a relative of the employee, the indictment said.
When questioned by the NYS Office of the Inspector General, Sun initially denied requesting any proclamations since moving to the Department of Labor, but later admitted to requesting the Lunar New Year proclamation for a PRC official, the document said.
March 2, 2023: Sun is terminated from her position with the Department of Labor. However, Sun reportedly continued to attend events held by Asian community members claiming to represent the Department of Labor, the indictment said.
August 10, 2023: Sun received a cease-and-desist letter from the Department of Labor, which said she “allegedly attended public and professional events purporting to represent [her]self as an agency official” after she was terminated, the indictment said.
July 2024: Federal investigators raided a home belonging to Sun and Hu.
Cuomo and Hochul condemn Sun’s alleged actions
Hochul called Sun’s alleged behavior “a betrayal of trust” that left the governor furious, outraged and “absolutely shocked,” she said during an appearance with WNYC radio.
Hochul said her office fired Sun in 2023 “the second we discovered some levels of misconduct” and “alerted the authorities – and hence we ended up with what happened here today.”
The depth of the allegations against Sun was apparent to the governor and her staff only after reading details of the indictment, said Hochul, who emphasized to WNYC that Sun worked less than two years for her administration and was initially hired by the previous one.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said in a statement that national security “must be free from foreign influence.”
“While Ms. Sun was promoted to deputy chief of staff in the subsequent administration, during our time she worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor,” the statement said.
CNN’s Mark Morales and Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.
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