The arrest of an assistant to the governor of the State, on the charge of acting as an agent of the Chinese government, exploded yesterday in New York like a “bombshell”.

Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hotchul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was arrested Tuesday, US Attorney Breon Pitts announced.

The indictment is heavy and includes, among other things: Violation and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Sun acted as an “unknown agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks,” prosecutors said in a news release.

Sun and Hu were arrested at their Long Island residence on Tuesday morning.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Sun and Hu pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court on Tuesday afternoon.

During the hearing, prosecutors claimed the defendants used shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages – all in Mandarin – in their alleged crimes.

Defense attorney Seth DuCharme addressed reporters outside court Tuesday, saying “we have a lot of confidence in our case.”

“Many of the allegations in this indictment are frankly complex, overly inflammatory,” he said. “As you heard in court today, we look forward to our day in court. Defendants exercise their right to a speedy trial as soon as possible. We have a lot of confidence in Chris and Linda.”

Who is the “unknown agent”

Sun has held several government titles for more than a decade. Her public employment records and LinkedIn profile show positions spanning a variety of agencies focused on New York economic development, labor and the executive chamber.

In 2009, Sun was hired as chief of staff in the office of Undersecretary Grace Meng when Meng was in the State Assembly. The administration of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo then hired Sun in 2012, naming her director of Asian American affairs and Queens representative. Sun then became director of external affairs for Empire State Development, which handles economic development throughout the state. In 2018, the Cuomo administration rehired her, naming her chief diversity officer. he later took a job with the state’s Department of Financial Services.

After Hochul assumed the state’s top office in 2021, Sun was hired as deputy chief of staff, serving for about a year before heading to a position as deputy commissioner for strategic operations at the Department of Labor, which ended her employment in March 2023.

That 2023 firing happened after the governor’s office discovered “evidence of misconduct,” Hotchul press secretary Avi Small said in a statement to CNN without elaborating on the misconduct.

“(We) immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” Small said.

Among Sun’s activities, prosecutors say, she acted as an undisclosed agent of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, acting at their request and engaging in political activities to advance CCP interests.

The indictment describes an attempt by Sun to obtain “unauthorized letters of invitation” from the governor’s office, which were then used to facilitate the travel of government officials with the People’s Republic of China to the United States for meetings with state officials in New York .

Sun’s unauthorized letters included false statements about immigration documents and “induced foreign nationals to enter the United States illegally,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also allege he tried to “facilitate a trip” to China by a high-ranking, unnamed New York politician.

Sun and her husband received “significant financial and other benefits” that included millions of dollars in transactions for Hu’s business operations in the PRC, travel benefits, tickets to events, employment for Sun’s cousin in the PRC, delivery of “Nanjing-style ducks ». prepared by a personal chef of a DPRK official” that were then delivered to the residence of Sun’s parents, among others, according to the indictment.

They also laundered the proceeds to buy real estate in New York and Hawaii and various luxury vehicles, according to the indictment.

Sun is accused of acting at the request of the Chinese government and the CCP to block Taiwanese government officials from accessing state government officials because she knew CCP officials were “opposed to such diplomacy,” according to court documents.

The role in the coronavirus pandemic

In the pandemic, according to court documents, Sun worked to ensure that Cuomo pushed public praise for Chinese officials for sending medical equipment to the city while blocking Taiwan, which also sought public recognition for providing 200,000 masks at the peak of the pandemic. were ravaging New York.

In April 2020, a PRC official informed the Sun that several Chinese institutions would donate 1,000 ventilators to the Greater New York Hospital Association.

In return, Sun told the official that Cuomo would call him to thank him for the donation. After waiting two hours for the call, the official complained that he still hadn’t heard from Cuomo. In turn, the Sun apologized and indicated that Cuomo would thank him publicly and on social media for facilitating the donation, which was scheduled to arrive in New York the next day, according to the indictment.

Cuomo is not named in the indictment, but his tenure as governor aligns with the timeline of the allegations.

An archived X post shows that Cuomo posted a message of thanks from his government account the next day.

“We finally got some good news today. The Chinese government helped facilitate the donation of 1,000 ventilators that will arrive at JFK today. Thank you to the Chinese government, Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, the Jack Ma Foundation, the Tsai Foundation and Consul General Huang,” the post said.

Hochul says she’s furious and ‘absolutely shocked’

Hoechul is furious, outraged and “absolutely shocked at how brazen” Sun’s behavior allegedly was, the governor told WNYC radio last night.

“It was a betrayal of my trust,” Hoechul said, adding that she was fired in 2023 for misconduct. “We notified the authorities – and that’s why we ended up with what happened here today,” the governor said, claiming she had only worked for her for 15 months.