A former top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was arrested Tuesday on federal charges of acting as a secret agent of the Chinese government, authorities said.
Linda Sun, 41, is accused of using her high-ranking positions in state government to serve the interests of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for millions of dollars. Her husband, Chris Hu, 40, was also arrested in the alleged scheme.
Sun and Hu are expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon. Sun was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering. Hu was charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.
It was not immediately clear if they had hired attorneys.
The arrests come six weeks after FBI agents searched the couple's $3.5 million home in a gated community in Manhasset on Long Island.
Avi Small, a spokesman for Hochul, said Sun was hired more than a decade ago and fired in March 2023 after “evidence of misconduct” was discovered. Small said Hochul's staff immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted the authorities working the case.
According to the indictment, Sun blocked Taiwanese government representatives from getting access to high-ranking New York state officials and altered the messaging of state officials on issues of importance to the Chinese government — all at the request of Chinese officials. Sun also helped Chinese government officials travel to the U.S. and meet with New York officials by providing unauthorized invitation letters from high-level state officers, according to the indictment.
“Sun’s unauthorized invitation letters for the PRC government delegation constituted false statements made in connection with immigration documents and induced the foreign citizens into unlawfully entering the United States,” Brooklyn federal prosecutors said in a press release.
“Sun never registered as a foreign agent with the Attorney General, and in fact actively concealed that she took actions at the order, request, or direction of PRC government and the CCP representatives.”
In return, Sun received millions of dollars in transactions for the China-based business activities of her husband, tickets to events, employment for her cousin in China and Nanjing-style salted ducks that were prepared by a Chinese government official’s personal chef and delivered to the residence of Sun’s parents, according to prosecutors.
The couple used the money to buy their home on Long Island, as well as a $2 million condominium in Honolulu and luxury cars, including a 2024 Ferrari, prosecutors said.
According to her government bio, Sun was appointed deputy chief of staff to Hochul, a Democrat, in September 2021. At the time, she was the highest-appointed Asian American in the administration.
After leaving Hochul’s office, she served briefly as a deputy secretary in the state Labor Department.
Sun’s Alleged Actions
The indictment details a long list of alleged actions Sun took to benefit the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.
Blocking Taiwanese Officials
Prosecutors allege that Sun acted at the request of the Chinese government and the CCP to block representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to state government officials because she knew CCP officials were “opposed to such diplomacy,” according to the court documents.
Prosecutors also said while the office of the governor did not have a position on recognizing Taiwan, Sun used her position to change both then-governor Andrew Cuomo and Hochul’s “messaging regarding issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP” and helped minimize interactions between the governor’s office and representatives from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US. Also known as TECO – the office serves as a de facto, yet unofficial, embassy to Taiwan. TECO maintains offices that provide consular and other services across various cities in the US, including New York.
Court documents show Sun used her position to block small shows of diplomacy. In January 2020, a TECO representative wrote a letter to Cuomo informing him of the latest presidential election results in Taiwan and requested a congratulatory message to be forwarded to Taipei. After an employee in the governor’s office flagged the request to Sun, she quickly blocked the effort, responding, “No letter; would set off political firestorm.”
Pandemic Era Actions
By the time the pandemic arrived in New York, Sun was working behind the scenes to give Chinese officials access to New York government officials. In one instance, prosecutors say Sun added a Chinese official to a “private New York State government conference call concerning the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the administration’s response to rising hate crimes against Asian Americans.” The call was not open to the public.
As the pandemic took hold, court documents say Sun worked to ensure Cuomo was heaping public praise on Chinese officials for sending medical equipment to the city while simultaneously blocking Taiwan, which also sought public acknowledgment for providing 200,000 masks at the height of the pandemic which was ravaging New York.
In April 2020, a PRC official informed Sun that several Chinese foundations would donate 1,000 ventilators to the Greater New York Hospital Association, according to the indictment. 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 had not yet heard from Cuomo. In turn, Sun apologized and indicated that Cuomo would thank him in public and on social media for facilitating the donation which was scheduled to arrive in New York the next day.
Cuomo is not identified by name in the indictment, but his tenure as governor aligns with the timeline of the allegations.
An archived X post shows 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 a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will arrive in JFK today. I thank the Chinese government, Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, the Jack Ma Foundation, the Tsai Foundation and Consul General Huang,” the post reads.
Sun’s Career in State Government
Sun has held several government titles for more than a decade. Public employment records and her LinkedIn profile show positions spanned across several agencies focused on New York’s economic development, labor and the executive chamber.
In 2009, Sun was hired as chief of staff in Rep. Grace Meng’s office when Meng was in the State Assembly. In 2012, Sun was hired by the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who named her director of Asian American affairs and Queens representative. Sun then went on to secure a post as director of external affairs for Empire State Development, which handles economic development across the state.
In 2018 she was re-hired by the Cuomo administration and named chief diversity officer; she later left that post for a job in the Department of Financial Services.
After Hochul had ascended to the top office in the state, Sun was hired as deputy chief of staff, serving for about a year before heading for a post as deputy commissioner for strategic business at the Department of Labor, which terminated her employment in March 2023.
A ‘Double Agent’?
The accusations against Sun, while serious, come at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China.
The Biden administration has been increasingly critical of China’s human rights record and its growing military power. The administration has also taken steps to limit China’s access to sensitive technologies, such as semiconductors.
The charges against Sun highlight the challenges of balancing economic and diplomatic ties with China while protecting national security interests.
It remains to be seen how these charges will impact the relationship between the United States and China. But the case of Linda Sun is a reminder that the battle for influence is being waged not just on the international stage, but also in the halls of power in Washington, D.C., and across the United States.
What’s Next?
Sun and Hu are expected to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon. It is unclear if they have hired attorneys.
The case is expected to be closely watched by both the United States and China. It will be a test of the U.S. government's ability to prosecute individuals accused of acting as foreign agents. It will also be a measure of the Chinese government's willingness to retaliate against such actions.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
