A former top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hotchul was arrested Tuesday federal criminal charges accusing her of acting as an unknown agent of China and the Chinese Communist Party and of laundering millions of dollars for China.
Linda Sunwho served as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff for a year in addition to other state government posts, is charged with trespassing and conspiracy to trespass Foreign Agents Registration Actvisa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy.
Sun’s husband, businessman Chris Hu, 40, was also arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of identification.
The couple, who were arrested by FBI agents at their Long Island home, appeared Tuesday afternoon in US District Court in Brooklyn, New York, where they both pleaded not guilty.
Sun was released on $1.5 million bond and Hu was released on $500,000 bond. Sun was also ordered to have no contact with the consulate and mission of the People’s Republic of China.
Prosecutors say the couple used the proceeds of their alleged scheme to buy a $4.1 million home in Manhasset, Long Island, a $2.1 million condominium in Honolulu and luxury cars that included a 2024 Ferrari.
An indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges that Sun, 41, while working in the governor’s office under Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and at several government agencies, also acted as an undercover agent for the People’s Republic of China, where she was born.
On or about February 14, 2023, Linda Sun submitted to a voluntary interview with the New York Office of the Inspector General. During the interview, Sun claimed that she attended Asian community events in her personal capacity and not in her new capacity at the Department of Labor.
Courtesy: United States District Court EDNY
The indictment says that while “acting at the request of DPRK government officials and his [Communist Party of China] representative of Sun engaged in many political activities in the interests of the PRC and the CCP.”
These activities included “blocking representatives of the Taiwanese government from accessing” the New York governor’s office, changing the messages of Hochul and another politician on issues important to China and the CCP, receiving official statements from the governor for representatives of the DPRK and attempting to facilitate a trip by Hochul to China, the indictment alleges.
He also allegedly arranged “meetings for visiting delegations from the DPRK government with New York State government officials.”
Prosecutors said that in exchange for these and other actions, Sun “received substantial financial and other benefits” from the Chinese government and the Communist Party.
These included “facilitating millions of dollars in transactions for Hu’s PRC-based business operations,” the press release said.
This is an aerial view of Saxony Courthouse, the Manhasset, New York home owned by Chris Hu and Linda Sun, July 24, 2024. Sun is the former deputy chief of staff to New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. The FBI searched the home on July 23, 2024.
J. Conrad Williams Jr. | Newsday | Getty Images
Sun also received tickets to events, “promotion of a close family friend’s business, employment for Sun’s cousin in the DPRK, and Nanjing-style pickled ducks prepared by a DPRK government official’s personal chef delivered to Sun’s parents’ residence.” . said the release.
Lawyers for Sun and Hu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the indictment.
Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, in a statement to WNBC News 4 about Sun said, “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, promptly reported her actions to law enforcement, and assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” Small said.
Sun was working at the state Department of Labor at the time she was fired.
According to the indictment, Sun held a number of positions in New York state government from 2012 to 2023, including serving as deputy chief of staff to Hochul for a year beginning in September 2021.
