Last night it emerged that a senior New York government official was allegedly working as a Chinese spy while pumping taxpayer funds into masks and respirators during the COVID pandemic.
Linda Sun, an Ivy League graduate who worked for Democratic governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, was dramatically arrested along with her husband in a dawn raid on their $4 million Long Island mansion on Tuesday.
Sun and her husband Christopher Hu are accused of earning millions in bribes from the Chinese Communist Party, helping fund a lavish lifestyle that included a $2 million Hawaii condo and a 2024 Ferrari.
It has now emerged that Sun boasted of having “spearheaded” the New York government’s purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn profile.
Meanwhile, her husband Hu, accused of acting as a money launderer for the couple, set up a medical supplies company during the pandemic.
Sun is also alleged to have used his influence to promote China’s geopolitical agenda by banning meetings with Taiwanese officials and diverting messages from criticizing Beijing’s persecution of Uighur Muslims.
Sun and her businessman husband Christopher Hu, left, are also accused of laundering millions of dollars through their alleged spying to fund a lavish lifestyle.
The couple’s five-bedroom, $4 mansion in Manhasset, New York, was raided by the FBI on Tuesday morning.
Such was Sun’s reputation among Chinese government officials that he was able to arrange for Nanjing-style salted duck (prepared by a party official’s personal chef) to be delivered to his parents.
The 65-page indictment comes amid growing fears about China’s growing influence across the United States, including by buying up vast tracts of farmland and investing millions in schools.
The pair appeared impassive as they left court on Tuesday afternoon, both pleading not guilty as their lawyer described the charges against them as “baffling”.
Sun’s bail was set at $1.5 million, while her husband’s was $500,000. They were ordered not to travel beyond New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.
The indictment alleges that Sun “acted as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Christopher Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in bribes for personal benefit.”
Hu is known to own several businesses, including a liquor store in Queens, in addition to the medical company he created during the pandemic.
On his now-deleted LinkedIn profile, Sun touted his role in New York’s response to the pandemic, where he boasted of “leading the procurement of COVID-19 PPE equipment” in New York.
At the same time, it was revealed that city officials were overspending on medical equipment for the pandemic, resulting in $225 million in surplus PPE being auctioned off for just $500,000 last year, according to The city.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 70 percent of U.S. PPE equipment was manufactured in China.
Sun is shown above being honored at a People’s Republic of China consulate event in an image included in the Justice Department’s indictment.
Linda Sun, a former high-ranking New York government official, is accused by prosecutors of influencing the government on behalf of the CCP.
The significant amount of money and power flowing through the New York political scene provided an ideal environment for the CCP to exert influence through Sun, the indictment said.
During Sun’s time in Albany (before she was fired in March 2023 for “misconduct”), she is accused of conspiring with the CCP in a number of ways, including blocking Taiwanese officials from accessing the governor’s office.
She is also accused of altering state messaging to favor the Chinese, removing any reference to Taiwan and ensuring officials did not publicly address the CCP’s persecution of Uighur Muslims in China.
In one of the interactions alleged in the indictment, Gov. Hochul was invited to meet with the ambassador of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, to which Sun responded, “I would not like to meet with her, please… Please decline the invitation. I don’t want her to get involved in this sensitive China-Taiwan issue.”
In another alleged blocking incident in 2019, Sun is said to have told representatives of Tsai Ing-wen, then President of Taiwan, that Governor Cuomo was unable to meet during Ing-wen’s controversial visit.
He then allegedly wrote to a Chinese government official: “I have already blocked him.”
That same day, she was photographed attending a protest in Manhattan against the visit of the Taiwanese prime minister.
Sun at a 2019 protest against the Taiwanese president’s visit to New York, prosecutors say
In addition to allegedly receiving millions for his actions, Sun is also alleged to have facilitated “Nanjing-style salted ducks” prepared by a Chinese government official’s private chef, to be delivered to his parents’ home.
The delivery of the special ducks occurred on at least three separate occasions, part of a series of bribes that prosecutors say linked Sun to CCP influence.
It is unclear when prosecutors say Sun began working for the CCP, as his career in New York politics spans nearly 15 years.
She began in 2009 as chief of staff to New York State Assembly member Grace Meng, who is now a member of Congress.
Sun then held positions in former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration beginning in 2012, including as New York’s Global Trade Manager, Director of Asian Outreach for the Governor’s Office, and Queens Regional Representative.
In 2018, the Cuomo administration named Sun its chief diversity officer, before she was appointed Hochul’s deputy chief of staff in September 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile. She remained in the role for about 15 months.
In November 2022, she moved to the New York Department of Labor, where she served as deputy commissioner for strategic business development, but left that job just a few months later in March 2023, according to the profile.
After leaving state government, Sun began working as a campaign manager for Democrat Austin Cheng in an unsuccessful congressional campaign on Long Island.
Hochul’s spokesman told the New York Times that Sun ‘was hired by the executive chamber more than a decade ago.’
He added that the governor’s administration “immediately reported its actions to law enforcement and has assisted law enforcement throughout this process.”
She was fired in March 2023 after officials discovered evidence of misconduct.
Prior to working in government, she attended Barnard College before pursuing a master’s degree in teaching at Columbia University.
In September 2021, Sun was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Hochul.
Sun, seen earlier in her career, was fired by Hochul in March 2023 after “discovering evidence of misconduct.”
Sun’s arrest comes after federal prosecutors issued subpoenas to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, his campaign arm and City Hall in an investigation into the Democrat’s 2021 campaign that allegedly linked him to the Turkish government.
This also comes just weeks after 75-year-old Queens resident Shajun Wang was convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court for acting as a spy for the CCP.
Three men were also convicted last summer in New Jersey after stalking a family on behalf of the CCP, according to the Times.