A former aide to two New York governors went on trial on Wednesday on charges that she sold her influence to the Chinese government and illegally profited from the state’s bulk purchase of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Linda Sun (孫雯) and her husband, Chris Hu (胡驍), were arrested last year during a US crackdown on alleged Chinese secret agents. They were charged again in June as part of the US government’s efforts to root out pandemic fraud.
“Linda Sun was for sale,” prosecutor Amanda Shami told jurors in an opening statement.
Photo: Reuters
Federal prosecutors allege that Sun acted at the request of Chinese officials to block Taiwanese government representatives from having access to the governor’s office and shaped the state’s messaging to align with Chinese government priorities, among other things.
Sun and Hu made millions of dollars from their illicit conduct and reaped other rewards, including Nanjing-style salted ducks, a delicacy prepared by a Chinese official’s personal chef and delivered to Sun’s parents’ New York home, prosecutors said.
“The evidence will show the defendants’ greed. The evidence will show the defendants’ betrayal,” Shami said.
Sun, a naturalized US citizen born in China, held numerous posts over a 15-year career in state government, including as deputy chief of staff to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and deputy diversity officer under former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
Sun has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that she failed to register as an agent of a foreign government, conspired with her husband to commit money laundering and helped people commit visa fraud to enter the US illegally.
Hu has pleaded not guilty to charges including money laundering, tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of identification.
Neither has been charged with espionage.
They both pleaded not guilty to bribery and other charges in the alleged mask scheme.
Sun’s lawyer, Jarrod Schaeffer, told jurors that the charges “assault everything she’s built her life around.”
Sun is a proud American and a loyal public servant who only dealt with China in an official, legal capacity, including as a liaison to the Asian community, Schaeffer said.
“Linda Sun did what she was hired to do. That’s what the evidence will show,” Schaeffer said in his opening statement in Brooklyn federal court.
Schaeffer called Sun’s foreign agent charge “nonsense,” telling jurors: “Linda did not have to register as a foreign agent because she is not one.”
In court filings ahead of the trial, Schaeffer said that the government had charged her because she and her family “had too much money” and that the case is filled with “glaring inconsistencies.”
Judge Brian Cogan has said he expects the trial to take about a month.
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