Ex-Hochul aide, husband arrested at Manhasset home

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A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and her husband were arrested in their Manhasset home Tuesday, federal officials said.

Linda Sun has been charged in federal court in Brooklyn in connection with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy. She is alleged to have acted on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Her husband and codefendant Chris Hu was charged with money laundering conspiracy as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.

“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” U.S. Attorney for New York’s Eastern District Breon Peace said in a news release about the charges. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”

“As alleged in the indictment, Linda Sun, a former New York State government employee, acted as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Christopher Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain,” FBI Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis said in the news release. “Sun wielded her position of influence among executives to covertly promote PRC and CCP agendas, directly threatening our country’s national security.”

LIBN did not immediately reach an attorney for Sun for comment.

Officials say that while working for New York State, including in high-ranking posts in its Executive Chamber and in multiple state agencies, Sun also acted as an undisclosed agent of the PRC and the CCP.

Sun allegedly engaged in political activities in the interests of the PRC and the CCP. Those alleged interests include blocking representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to high-level state officers, changing high-level state officers’ messaging regarding issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP, obtaining official state proclamations for PRC government representatives without proper authorization, attempting to facilitate a trip to the PRC by a high-level state politician, and arranging meetings for visiting delegations from the PRC government with state government officials.

Officials say that Sun is also alleged to have repeatedly violated internal rules and protocols in state government to provide improper benefits to PRC and the CCP representatives, including by providing unauthorized invitation letters from the office of high-level state officers that were used to facilitate travel by PRC government officials into the U.S. for meetings with state government officials.

Officials said that unauthorized invitation letters from for the PRC government delegation constituted false statements made in connection with immigration documents and induced the foreign citizens into unlawfully entering the U.S.

Sun was hired more than a decade ago by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and had served as a member of his administration for eight years.

Last year, she was terminated from that role, an official said.

“This individual was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago. We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” a press secretary for  Hochul said, according to published reports.

The couple is expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon.