Former New York Gov. Kathy Hochul aide Linda Sun charged with working as agent of China
NEW YORK — Linda Sun, a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has been arrested alongside her husband for working as an agent of China a month and a half after the feds raided their $3.6 million home in Manhasset.
Sun, 41, and her husband Chris Hu, 40, were taken into federal custody early Tuesday morning and accused of helping shape state policy in exchange for millions in kickbacks and gifts — including specially-cooked salted ducks for her parents. They were expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Sun was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy, while her husband was charged with money laundering conspiracy, as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.
While working in the governor’s office, she blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor and changed Cuomo and Hochul’s messaging regarding issues important to the Chinese government, the feds allege.
She also obtained gubernatorial proclamations, without permission, for Chinese government officials, arranged meetings for visiting diplomats, and issued unauthorized invitation letters from the governor’s office to make it easier for Chinese officials to travel to the U.S., the feds allege.
In return, she had business steered to her husband’s companies and got an array of gifts, including Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by one Chinese government official’s personal chef and delivered to her parents, according to the feds.
The proceeds of her scheme were laundered to pay for her Manhasset home, a $1.9 million condo in Honolulu, and luxury vehicles, including a 2024 Ferrari Roma, the feds allege.
“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Tuesday. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars. Our Office will act decisively to prosecute those who serve as undisclosed agents of a foreign government.”
Sun started working in the governor’s office in 2012, when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo hired her to become his administration’s liaison to local Asian American communities, specifically in Queens.
But she was working for an entirely separate set of bosses in the Chinese government and at the Chinese consulate in New York, according to a 64-page indictment.
She became the external affairs director of Empire State Development’s Global NY program, a post that included leading trade and investment missions to five different countries each year, according to her LinkedIn profile.
In one episode in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sun texted a Chinese consulate official, according to the indictment, boasting,”I’m still in charge of all Asian affairs. A few weeks [ago] when we released a press release for international travel — I almost had a heart attack when we referred to Taiwan as a country. Thankfully I had the press team correct it immediately.”
The consulate official responded, “Thank you for your every effort to improve understanding and cooperation between the two great peoples of China and the United States. Keep in touch.”
Sun was appointed as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff in September 2021 and left the job in November 2022 to work as a deputy commissioner in the New York Department of Labor.
Sun was fired by the Department of Labor in March 2023 after “evidence of misconduct” was discovered, Avi Small, a spokesman for Hochul, told the Daily News on Tuesday.
Small declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence, but added that Hochul’s administration “immediately reported” Sun’s “actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process.”
Once out of state government, Sun managed the unsuccessful campaign of Austin Cheng, a Democrat who ran to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District after Republican George Santos was expelled from Congress.
From 2009 and 2012, Sun was chief of staff to then-Queens State Assemblywoman Grace Meng. Meng now represents New York’s 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
