STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK, an aide to New York state's Democratic governor is accused of working secretly for China's government.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. Justice Department alleges that she was taking payments from China's Communist Party. Linda Sun and her husband Chris Hu pleaded not guilty late yesterday at a Brooklyn courthouse.
INSKEEP: NPR's Brian Mann is following all of this. Brian, good morning.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, what does the indictment say?
MANN: Yeah, it says that Linda Sun, who was an important player in New York politics and government for more than a decade, worked in secret for China as early as 2016, failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. What the FBI says is that one of her missions, Steve, was to quietly use her influence to block New York officials from having contact with representatives of Taiwan. China, of course, has worked for decades to isolate Taiwan diplomatically. Sun also allegedly rewrote official pronouncements issued by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and current Governor Kathy Hochul, shaping those announcements to be more pro-China.
INSKEEP: OK, so working for - different word choices - by a New York State governor, what did China allegedly pay for that?
MANN: According to the indictment, Beijing officials funneled millions of dollars in cash into businesses owned by Linda Sun's husband Chris Hu, money the couple allegedly disguised in part by laundering it through luxury real estate. The FBI also says one Chinese government official, Steve, showed gratitude to the family by having a chef in the Chinese consulate in New York repeatedly send Nanjing-style salted duck.
INSKEEP: OK.
MANN: These payments and gifts allegedly continued for years. And again, to be clear, Sun and Hu have pleaded not guilty to these charges. They're free on bond this morning with court-ordered restrictions on their travel.
INSKEEP: OK, so a little bit of duck - few million dollars. What does Governor Kathy Hochul say about these allegations against one of her own aides?
MANN: Hochul says her team first identified misconduct by Sun last year and quickly fired her, reporting her alleged activity to law enforcement. Hochul spoke last night to NPR member station WNYC.
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KATHY HOCHUL: I'm furious, and I'm outraged and absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was. It was a betrayal of trust. The scope of what she was capable of doing is shocking.
MANN: Linda Sun also worked as a top aide to Grace Meng when Meng was in the New York State Assembly. She's now a member of Congress from New York. Through much of that time again, Steve, the FBI says she was actually working for China.
INSKEEP: OK, so I'm trying to think this through, Brian. These are allegations about an aide to the governor of one state, I mean, a big and important state but one American state. It makes me think that there must be - if these allegations were true, there must be a very widespread Chinese influence campaign in the United States.
MANN: The FBI has been warning about this kind of activity for years, urging government officials - state and federal - to be vigilant. I spoke with Casey Michel who's an expert on foreign lobbying in the U.S. He says there is evidence of influence networks funded by China that operate underground.
CASEY MICHEL: We have seen, though, other suspicious, other shady, other potentially unregistered, potentially criminal Chinese-related foreign lobbying networks.
MANN: Last month in a separate case, Steve, another New York resident, Shujun Wang, was convicted on federal charges. He worked as a spy on China's behalf. Prosecutors say Wang could be sentenced to up to 25 years behind bars. If they're found guilty, Linda Sun and Chris Hu also face serious prison time.
INSKEEP: Are there other countries that are also trying to influence officials across the United States?
MANN: Yeah, absolutely, Steve. U.S. officials say other governments are using similar criminal tactics. In July, NPR reported a former CIA analyst had been arrested for allegedly working as an undeclared agent for the South Korea government, maintaining secret ties in that case to South Korean intelligence officials for more than a decade.
And then last month, former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey resigned. He, of course, was convicted of taking bribes from Egyptian officials in exchange for secretly working on Egypt's behalf in Washington. The Justice Department describes these latest arrests in New York as another sign they're working aggressively to root out foreign agents and their schemes.
INSKEEP: Thanks for the reminder of the gold bars, Brian - appreciate it.
MANN: You bet, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Brian Mann. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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