New York Governor’s aide ‘served China in exchange for dollars and ducks’

The aide secretly served China’s Communist Party while working for more than a decade in the Democratic state government, investigators say.

Linda Sun, who worked as an aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

A former aide to the governor of New York was arrested on Tuesday and accused of secretly serving the Chinese government in return for gifts that included millions of dollars in cash transfers and the home delivery of Nanjing-style salted ducks.

Linda Sun, 41, who was born in China but is a US citizen, served more than a decade in the state government under Kathy Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn have alleged that during that time, she was also an agent of the Chinese Communist Party, seeking to further the interests of Beijing, including by ensuring that Hochul and other officials did not meet with representatives of Taiwan.

“No meeting please,” she wrote after a member of the state assembly asked Hochul to meet the ambassador of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. “Kindly decline. Do not want her to wade into this China/Taiwan sensitivity.”

Prosecutors said the US position on Taiwan, which Beijing regards as Chinese territory, was to have no formal diplomatic relationship but a “robust unofficial relationship”, in which representatives of Taiwan regularly met with high-ranking American officials.

Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, with a Chinese official in 2023. The Justice Department has blurred the official’s face. Photo: US Justice Department

Hochul and another politician – who was not named but appears to be Cuomo – had no particular policy on whether to meet with them or not, prosecutors said.

But from around 2016, at the request of the Chinese consulate, Sun began attempting to “minimise contact” between Taiwanese officials and the governor’s office, they said.

She later boasted to consular officials that she had prevented “all relationships” between Taiwan’s representatives and the state government.

“I have denied all requests form their office,” she wrote, according to an indictment. Meanwhile, when the president of Taiwan visited New York, a photograph showed Sun taking part in a protest, prosecutors said.

She is also alleged to have worked to eliminate references to Taiwan from state pronouncements and managed to secure favours for visiting Chinese officials, such as state proclamations bearing the governor’s signature.

Sun was allegedly rewarded via large payments to Chinese businesses operated by her husband, Chris Hu, 41, who is charged in the indictment with money laundering.

The couple are alleged to have used the proceeds to buy a $3.6m home in Long Island, a $1.9m property in Honolulu, a new Ferrari and other luxury cars.

Other benefits included a job for Sun’s cousin in China, tickets to events and Nanjing-style salted ducks, which were said to have been prepared by the personal chef of a consular official and delivered to Sun’s parents’ home.

Sun and Hu pleaded not guilty to the charges during a court hearing on Tuesday, and were granted bail.

A spokesperson for Hochul said Sun had been dismissed last year after “evidence of misconduct” that was reported to law enforcement.

The Times