Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo react after being accused of acting as illegal agents of the Chinese government

New York: Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Kathy Hochul of New York have reacted to the charges brought against a former assistant on Tuesday of operating as an unauthorized agent of the Chinese government.

On Tuesday morning, Linda Sun, 41, and her husband Chris Hu, 40, were taken into custody. During their first court appearance in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon, both entered not guilty pleas.

Federal prosecutors said that Sun, who held many roles in the New York state government, including deputy chief of staff for Hochul, exploited her influence to further Beijing’s agenda in return for millions of dollars in gifts and money.

Hochul expressed her fury and disbelief at Sun’s alleged actions in an interview with WNYC. She said that last year, after finding proof of misbehavior, her office dismissed Sun and promptly reported her acts to the police.

“I’m furious, and I’m outraged and absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was,” Hochul said. It was an act of betrayal of public and governmental confidence. And I’ll tell you something: as soon as we found evidence of any misbehavior, we dismissed the employee, reported the incident to the police, and that’s how we got to the current situation.”

According to the indictment, Sun allegedly obstructed Taiwanese government representatives’ access to the governor’s office at the behest of Chinese officials, shaped messaging to conform to Chinese government priorities, and attempted to set up a high-ranking New York politician’s visit to China.

Hu, who conducted business in China, is said to have received millions of dollars in deals set up by Chinese authorities in exchange. Prosecutors claim that Sun and Hu spent the money on expensive vehicles, including a 2024 Ferrari Roma sports car, a $2.1 million condominium in Hawaii, and a $4.1 million home on Long Island, New York.

According to the indictment, Sun allegedly got presents, such as passes to see ballet and symphonic performances by visiting Chinese groups and “Nanjing-style salted ducks” that were brought to Sun’s parents’ New York residence and cooked by a Chinese government official’s personal chef.

In an interview with WNYC, Hochul said that her office “has been working with the Department of Justice in this investigation, and we’ll continue to make sure that justice is done and all the material that is out there is revealed.” This is just astonishing.”

Sun was let go in March 2023, an Associated Press spokeswoman for Hochul’s office said. The governor refused to elaborate on the misbehavior that resulted in Sun’s termination on WNYC.

Hochul said, “That’s what they’re alleging,” in response to a question about the veracity of the claims that Sun had affected the governor’s office’s stance on Taiwan and other matters. It was something we realized after reading the indictments. For many more years, Andrew Cuomo was her main employer. She only lived with me for around 15 months. However, based on what I read in the pleadings and the indictment today, a lot of what she did during the previous administration and certain instructions she attempted to give us when I was lieutenant governor were highlighted.”

Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, minimized Sun’s influence during the previous governor’s term. Azzopardi told the Associated Press that Sun “worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor.”

The AP was informed by Sun’s defense attorney, Jarrod Schaeffer, that “we look forward to addressing these charges in court.” It seems sense that our client is outraged that these allegations have been made.”

Sun is a Chinese-born American citizen via naturalization. She worked for the state of New York for almost fifteen years.

She worked for Cuomo as a deputy diversity officer among other positions, and she advanced to become Hochul’s deputy chief of staff. According to her LinkedIn page, she started working as a deputy commissioner for strategic business development at the New York State Department of Labor in November 2022 but quit in March 2023.

According to the AP, the Justice Department is searching for Chinese government covert agents working in the United States as part of a larger investigation. This includes the case against Sun.

In recent years, authorities have accused Chinese nationals of secretly furthering Beijing’s interests and of threatening and harassing dissidents on behalf of the Chinese government.

A media investigation last year revealed that hundreds of community organizations in the United States and their leaders, who had direct links to either the United Front Work Department or a larger “united front system” run by the Chinese Communist Party worldwide, had donated to prominent New York politicians. These gifts date back many decades, and among the beneficiaries were former New York senator Hillary Clinton.

The groups provide members with business opportunities and community services, but detractors claim the CCP uses these as a cover for espionage by China’s security services, as a means of influencing local politicians, and as a network to carry out “transnational repression” of the party’s opponents worldwide.