Former NY Official Fights Charges of Acting as Chinese Agent

On 20 Novem­ber 2024, the Times Union report­ed that Lin­da Sun, a for­mer top offi­cial in Gov­er­nor Hochul’s admin­is­tra­tion, is seek­ing dis­missal of fed­er­al charges that accused her of act­ing as a Chi­nese gov­ern­ment agent, claim­ing she was unfair­ly tar­get­ed due to her wealth and eth­nic­i­ty. The arti­cle begins:

Lin­da Sun, a for­mer top offi­cial in the Gov. Kathy Hochul’s admin­is­tra­tion who is charged with act­ing as a for­eign agent for Chi­na, claims she was unfair­ly tar­get­ed by fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors sim­ply because of her wealth and eth­nic­i­ty. Attor­neys for Sun wrote in a recent motion that seeks to have the case dis­missed that she and her hus­band “sim­ply have too much” in the bank for pros­e­cu­tors to believe their inno­cence. “The indictment’s fuzzi­ness and mis­di­rec­tion is unsur­pris­ing, because despite the instant charges it real­ly is not about for­eign influ­ence — this indict­ment is about mon­ey,” Sun’s defense attor­neys wrote.  “In the government’s view, Ms. Sun and her fam­i­ly sim­ply have too much and so there must be a nefar­i­ous rea­son,” they con­tin­ued. And with­out anoth­er clear rea­son, her attor­neys wrote, pros­e­cu­tors have accused Sun of being a for­eign agent for Chi­na sole­ly because she is of Chi­nese descent. She’s rep­re­sent­ed by the firm Abell Eskew Lan­dau LLP, a team of for­mer fed­er­al prosecutors.

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Key Points:

1. Sun accused of work­ing to cur­tail New York’s rela­tion­ship with Taiwan
2. Defense claims pros­e­cu­tors tar­get­ed her wealth and Chi­nese heritage
3. Alle­ga­tions include secur­ing an unau­tho­rized procla­ma­tion hon­or­ing Chi­nese official
4. Sun and hus­band accused of laun­der­ing mil­lions through Chi­nese busi­ness ventures