Linda Sun, who had been deputy chief of staff to Hochul for a year, is charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy. Sun’s husband, Chris Hu, also was arrested on charges of money laundering conspiracy, as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification. The couple, who were arrested at their home in Long Island, are scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York.
A former aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul has been charged with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said. Prosecutors said Linda Sun, 41, was arrested on Tuesday and is expected to be presented in court later in the day. Sun's husband Chris Hu also faces criminal charges. While working in state government, Sun allegedly blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with officials, and allegedly sought to arrange for a high-level New York state official to visit China.
The 64-page indictment accuses Linda Sun, 41, who was arrested that morning along with her husband Christopher Hu, 40, of blocking representatives from Taiwan’s governor from visiting New York governor’s office. She also skewed public statements by unnamed “executive” officials, who appear to be Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, toward Chinese-friendly positions. Sun and Hu also laundered kickbacks she received from the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party to buy a $4.1 million Long Island home that FBI agents later raided, the indictment contends.
