NEW YORK — A former top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and former governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) operated as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and made millions while selling her influence, including during the most critical part of the covid-19 pandemic, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Linda Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, sold Sun’s influence in exchange for lucrative kickbacks like payments, travel, tickets to performances and at least a dozen salted ducks, a specialty of the Nanjing region, federal lawyers told jurors during opening statements at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
NEW YORK — A former top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and former governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) operated as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and made millions while selling her influence, including during the most critical part of the covid-19 pandemic, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Linda Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, sold Sun’s influence in exchange for lucrative kickbacks like payments, travel, tickets to performances and at least a dozen salted ducks, a specialty of the Nanjing region, federal lawyers told jurors during opening statements at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Shami said Sun “betrayed the state of New York for the Chinese government to enrich herself.”
Shami said Sun was a key player in New York’s response to the pandemic, tasked with procuring desperately needed masks, sanitizers and ventilators from overseas. In that role, she steered contracts worth millions to her cousin and another associate, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
“Her loyalty was for sale,” Shami said. “Public servants are meant to serve the public.”
Sun also forged Hochul’s signature on documentation regarding a planned visit from a Chinese delegation when she was lieutenant governor, prosecutors said.
Sun is charged with violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, among other counts. Her husband’s charges include money laundering conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of identification.
Sun and Su have denied the charges.
Hu is alleged to have laundered the couple’s profits from bribes using his businesses and bank accounts. The profits and payoffs related to various state contracts were allegedly tracked on a spreadsheet maintained on a personal computer owned by the couple. The couple owned a $3.6 million home on Long Island and a $2 million condo in Hawaii.
Lawyers for Sun and Hu argued that the case lacks any substantial evidence and relies on assumptions about the nature of the couple’s finances and Sun’s work.
Jarrod Schaeffer, an attorney for Sun, said in court that the former state official, who worked in high-ranking government roles including director of Asian affairs and deputy commissioner for strategic business development between 2015 and 2023, “did what she was hired to do.” That involved having dealings with the Chinese consulate, Schaeffer said.
As a liaison to the Chinese community, Schaeffer said, Sun was supposed to “cultivate relationships to avoid alienating Chinese Americans who unsurprisingly have connections to China.”
“She was working around-the-clock for her fellow New Yorkers,” Schaeffer said, adding that she worked to “locate tens of thousands of ventilators” to be sent to New York from China and was expected to use her contacts to help manage the personal protective equipment crisis.
Hu’s attorney, Nicole Boeckmann, described him as a hardworking and successful immigrant. “Working hard and becoming successful does not mean you’re a criminal,” Boeckmann said.
Boeckmann said any connections the couple had to personal protective equipment contract recipients was not an indication of corruption. At the time, Cuomo was “on the news every day begging for” help obtaining such supplies.
Cuomo resigned from office in 2021 following allegations of sexual harassment and was replaced by Hochul, who was elected to the office in 2022. Cuomo recently lost a race for New York mayor.
The trial is expected to last several weeks.
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