Former aide to 2 New York governors is charged with being an agent of the Chinese government
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Federal prosecutors say a former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has been charged with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government.

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A former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was charged Tuesday with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors revealed in a sprawling indictment.

Linda Sun, who held numerous posts in New York state government before rising to the rank of deputy chief of staff for Hochul, was arrested Tuesday morning along with her husband, Chris Hu, at their $3.5 million home on Long Island.

Sun and Hu, are expected to make an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn said.

Prosecutors said Sun, at the request of Chinese officials, blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to high-level officials in New York state, altered state governmental messaging on issues related to the Chinese government and attempted to facilitate a trip to China for a high-level politician in New York, among other things. Hu is charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.

  •  some_guy   ( @some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
    8•2 months ago

    Prosecutors said Sun, at the request of Chinese officials, blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor’s office, shaped New York governmental messaging to align with the priorities of the Chinese government and attempted to facilitate a trip to China for a high-level politician in New York, the indictment said. Hu is charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.

    That’s a nice laundry list of charges.

    The couple then laundered the financial proceeds, using them to buy their property in Manhasset, a condominium in Hawaii for $1.9 million, and luxury cars including a 2024 Ferrari, the indictment says.

    Quite the lavish lifestyle for what seems like relatively minor access compared to some of the other cases of people charged for assisting the PRC. Sometimes people throw their lives away for paltry sums (thousands). This lady really knew how to bargain, I guess?

    “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.

    Sounds like the administration tipped off the feds.