Opening statements are expected Wednesday morning in the trial of Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul who is accused of working as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government.
Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, are on trial in federal court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say Sun used her job as an aide to Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to do the bidding of Chinese officials.
At one point, prosecutors say, Sun covertly added a Chinese official to a private conference call about New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. She also blocked state officials from meeting with Taiwanese representatives and adjusted messaging from the governor’s office to align with China’s foreign policy, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say Sun and Hu received lavish kickbacks in return, allegedly evidenced by their $3.6 million mansion in Manhasset, Long Island, $1.9 million Hawaii condo, 2024 Ferrari Roma, and deliveries of Nanjing salted ducks — prepared by a Chinese official’s personal chef — to her parents’ home.
Hu is accused of helping launder the kickbacks through a web of family ties and companies.
Sun’s attorney, Jarrod Schaeffer, wrote in a court filing seeking to dismiss the case that it is “fueled by a broad imagination, but divorced from the essential elements of the crimes charged.”
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