What would you do in exchange for millions of dollars, luxury homes, expensive vehicles and an unlimited supply of salted duck? If your answer is acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, you and Long Island resident Linda Sun would have something in common. The 41-year-old was fired from her position as deputy chief of staff to New York Governor Kathy Hochul in August 2023, and is now facing federal charges for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government.
Sun was arrested alongside her husband, Chris Hu, at their Manhasset residence on September 3, 2024. The couple faces charges ranging from money laundering to failure to register as a foreign agent. Using evidence collected from shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages, federal prosecutors accused Sun of violating and conspiring against the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as well as visa fraud, money laundering and alien smuggling. Both Sun and Hu have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The court set bonds for $1.5 million for Sun and $500,000 for Hu. Furthermore, their travel is restricted to New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire. Sun’s attorney Jarrod Schaeffer told CNN that the charges “are inflammatory and appear to be the product of an overly aggressive prosecution.”
According to the law, individuals who are acting for the interests of foreign countries must register as foreign agents, an action that prosecutors say Sun failed to carry out.
Additionally, she was accused of giving Chinese officials unapproved access to New York leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. In one instance, she added one such Chinese official to a private state government call about the public health response to the virus.
During her time working under the state government, Sun affected and regulated the messaging between high-level state officials who discussed problems of importance to China. Prosecutors say she was able to acquire official New York State proclamations for government representatives in China and blocked Taiwanese representatives from contacting US government officials. In 2016, Sun bragged about her success in preventing one of New York’s top politicians from joining a Taiwanese-hosted event to a Chinese consular official, saying, “It’s all been taken care of satisfactorily” (CNN). She was also seen protesting the New York visit of Taiwan’s president in 2019.
The investigation uncovered substantial compensation for the couple’s alleged activities. She purchased huge sums in real estate, including a $4.1 million house in New York and a $2.1 million house in Honolulu, Hawaii. Court documents note that the couple didn’t take out any mortgage loans to make the purchases and that Hu had received more than $2.1 million in wire transfers from a China-based account under the name of his business partner. Sun and Hu were also able to afford luxury vehicles such as the 2024 Ferrari Roma sports car and enjoyed special perks, like personal home deliveries of salted duck.
The case has raised significant security concerns regarding access to government facilities. Sun and her husband were listed on White House visitor logs and were reported taking a photo on the steps outside of the House chamber. Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), told the New York Post, “The Biden-Harris administration must crack down on tighter security controls on all federal government buildings, including the White House, to ensure Chinese and Russian operatives do not gain access.”
Speaking on the topic of Sun’s trial, Gov. Hochul described the allegations against her former employee as “absolutely shocking” and “a betrayal of trust.” “To think that any foreign government has the audacity to infiltrate a government organization like the state of New York has to be addressed with,” she remarked (NBC). Previously, Sun had argued to remove any mention of China’s alleged ethnic cleansing of Uyghur Muslims in a draft of Hochul’s public Lunar New Year message, as well as additional mentions of the same situation in several other instances.
Representative Grace Meng (D), one of New York’s most prominent Asian American elected officials, cautioned the public against harmful Asian American stereotypes. On behalf of the Congresswoman, a spokesperson wrote, “For too long, Asian Americans have often been viewed as not real Americans and continue to have their loyalty questioned. The Congresswoman believes that cases like these must not further fuel those harmful stereotypes and paint the entire Asian American community with one broad brush” (New York Post).