Top NYC official paid by China in salted ducks, cash and tickets: DOJ

Federal prosecutors have charged a former top aide to New York’s governor with secretly collaborating with China in exchange for benefits that included orchestra tickets, millions of dollars in cash and more than a dozen Nanking-style salted ducks.

Linda Sun, who worked for Gov. Kathy Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, was charged Tuesday with more than 10 crimes, including visa fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Sun, 40, is accused of, among other things, blocking Taiwanese officials from entering the New York governor’s office and altering public statements by both governors to bolster China’s position as a topic of discussion.

She also sent messages to the Chinese consulate about Taiwan’s requests to the governor’s office, according to the Justice Department.

“Everything has been resolved satisfactorily,” she allegedly wrote in a message to a Chinese official in 2016.

“Just a side note, I already blocked it,” she also wrote in 2019, when the Taiwanese president’s office invited Cuomo to a banquet, according to prosecutors.

Court documents unsealed Tuesday show that Sun held several senior positions during his more than a decade in New York City government, including as director of Asian American affairs and regional representative for Queens under Cuomo.

In September 2021, she was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff under Hochul and then, from September 2022 to 2023, she served as Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Business Development at the New York City Department of Labor.

Prosecutors said that during that time, Sun used fake invitation letters to arrange meetings between Chinese officials and New York authorities. At one point, she also tried to arrange travel to China for Hochul, according to court documents.

“Sun used her position of influence among senior management to covertly promote the goals of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, directly threatening our country’s national security,” said FBI Acting Assistant Director Curtis, referring to the official names of China and the Chinese Communist Party.

Ducks, VIP Suite Access, and Honolulu Suite

In return, Sun received a series of undeclared gifts, including ballet and orchestra tickets, access to VIP suites at sporting events, promotion for a friend’s company and millions of dollars in benefits for her husband Chris Hu’s Chinese company, according to court documents.

Investigators say Sun also received salted ducks prepared by a Chinese consulate official’s personal chef on four separate occasions between 2021 and 2022. Court documents show she received up to six ducks at a time.

Federal prosecutors added that Sun also received a paycheck in the form of work for her cousin in China and benefits from local officials when she traveled with a colleague on a business trip to Jiangsu province.

According to the Justice Department, Sun and Hu used money received from Chinese officials to buy at least two properties — one in Manhasset, New York, that is now worth $4.1 million and a penthouse in Honolulu worth $2.1 million.

Officials added that they also purchased luxury cars such as a 2024 Ferrari model.

Hu has also been charged by the Justice Department with money laundering and opening bank accounts using a driver’s license photo belonging to a relative.

A spokesperson for Hochul told Business Insider that the New York governor’s office hired Sun more than 10 years ago.

“We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and supported them throughout the process,” they said.

When Hochul was asked about Sun Tuesday by WNYC’s “All Things Considered” radio podcast, the governor said the aide was fired “the moment we discovered certain levels of misconduct.”

She declined to say what of Sun’s behavior was reported by her office.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told BI he was not familiar with the details of Sun’s case.

“However, in recent years, the U.S. government and media have frequently inflated narratives about so-called ‘Chinese agents,’ many of which have since been proven to be false,” he said in a statement, adding that the embassy opposed “baseless slander and defamation of China.”

Jarrod Schaeffer, a lawyer for Sun, told The Associated Press on Tuesday: “We look forward to addressing these allegations in court. Our client is understandably upset that these allegations have been brought.”

Schaeffer and a spokesman for Cuomo did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by BI outside business hours.