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Washington Post
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Accused of acting as a Chinese agent, NY governors' ex-aide now faces pandemic fraud charge, too
NEW YORK — Already charged with acting as an illicit agent of the Chinese government, a former aide to two New York governors is being accused of illegally profiteering off the state's pandemic-era scramble for face masks. Linda Sun — who worked for Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, both Democrats — and husband Chris Hu were indicted Wednesday on bribery and other charges in the alleged mask graft.
The Independent
17 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Accused of acting as a Chinese agent, NY governors' ex-aide now faces pandemic fraud charge, too
Already charged with acting as an illicit agent of the Chinese government, a former aide to two New York governors is being accused of illegally profiteering off the state's pandemic-era scramble for face masks. Linda Sun — who worked for Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, both Democrats — and husband Chris Hu were indicted Wednesday on bribery and other charges in the alleged mask graft. 'When masks, gloves and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits,' Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement Thursday. The couple is due to answer those charges in court Monday, and Sun's lawyer said she will vigorously contest the allegations. 'The newest allegations continue the government's trend of making and publicizing feverish accusations unmoored from the facts and evidence that we expect will actually come out at trial,' attorney Jarrod Schaeffer said. A message seeking comment was sent to Hu's attorneys. The couple already pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges of subtly using Sun's state jobs to advance Chinese government perspectives and priorities in exchange for lucrative financial benefits. A trial is set for November. With the new charges, the case now weaves together two significant threads that federal prosecutors have been pulling in recent years: pandemic fraud and rooting out alleged covert agents for China and other countries. The new indictment accuses Sun and Hu of reaping millions in kickbacks by exploiting her role on a Cuomo administration team that procured much-needed personal protective equipment in the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold. At the time, New York was a hotspot for the virus and, like other U.S. states and other nations, was scouring the globe for masks and other supplies. A naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, Sun used her homeland ties to help New York wrangle PPE from the country where much of it was made even as exports had dwindled because of China's own battle with the virus. Sun connected the state with vendors the Chinese government recommended. But, according to the indictment, she also forged documents to falsely claim that Chinese contacts had suggested two additional companies. One was run by a second cousin of Sun's, and the other by a business associate of her husband's, the indictment said. Sun didn't disclose those relationships to New York's government, which signed contracts with both companies in March 2020 and went on to pay them over $44 million in all, according to the indictment. The cousin funneled about $2.3 million back to Hu, the indictment said. It doesn't specify whether Hu's associate allegedly paid anything. Hu worked in state government for about 15 years, starting in Cuomo's administration and eventually working for his successor, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul's administration has said it fired Sun in 2023 after 'discovering evidence of misconduct.' Cuomo got national attention in 2020 for his daily pandemic briefings. He has since faced — and vociferously contested — criticism and congressional and federal Justice Department inquiries about his administration's handling of the virus in nursing homes. After resigning amid sexual harassment allegations in 2021, he conceded a Democratic primary race for New York City mayor this week. A message seeking comment on the new charges against Sun was sent to Cuomo's spokesperson. He has previously said Cuomo very rarely interacted with her. Sun also is accused of quietly doing the Chinese government's bidding by, for example, banishing any mention of Chinese human rights issues from a Hochul video celebrating the Lunar New Year. In return for Sun's efforts on China's behalf, prosecutors allege, Hu got assistance with business ventures in China. Prosecutors say the financial boost helped the couple buy multimillion-dollar properties and luxury cars.
Associated Press
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Accused of acting as a Chinese agent, NY governors' ex-aide now faces pandemic fraud charge, too
NEW YORK (AP) — Already charged with acting as an illicit agent of the Chinese government, a former aide to two New York governors is being accused of illegally profiteering off the state's pandemic-era scramble for face masks. Linda Sun — who worked for Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, both Democrats — and husband Chris Hu were indicted Wednesday on bribery and other charges in the alleged mask graft. 'When masks, gloves and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits,' Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement Thursday. The couple is due to answer those charges in court Monday, and Sun's lawyer said she will vigorously contest the allegations. 'The newest allegations continue the government's trend of making and publicizing feverish accusations unmoored from the facts and evidence that we expect will actually come out at trial,' attorney Jarrod Schaeffer said. A message seeking comment was sent to Hu's attorneys. The couple already pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges of subtly using Sun's state jobs to advance Chinese government perspectives and priorities in exchange for lucrative financial benefits. A trial is set for November. With the new charges, the case now weaves together two significant threads that federal prosecutors have been pulling in recent years: pandemic fraud and rooting out alleged covert agents for China and other countries. The new indictment accuses Sun and Hu of reaping millions in kickbacks by exploiting her role on a Cuomo administration team that procured much-needed personal protective equipment in the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold. At the time, New York was a hotspot for the virus and, like other U.S. states and other nations, was scouring the globe for masks and other supplies. A naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, Sun used her homeland ties to help New York wrangle PPE from the country where much of it was made even as exports had dwindled because of China's own battle with the virus. Sun connected the state with vendors the Chinese government recommended. But, according to the indictment, she also forged documents to falsely claim that Chinese contacts had suggested two additional companies. One was run by a second cousin of Sun's, and the other by a business associate of her husband's, the indictment said. Sun didn't disclose those relationships to New York's government, which signed contracts with both companies in March 2020 and went on to pay them over $44 million in all, according to the indictment. The cousin funneled about $2.3 million back to Hu, the indictment said. It doesn't specify whether Hu's associate allegedly paid anything. Hu worked in state government for about 15 years, starting in Cuomo's administration and eventually working for his successor, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul's administration has said it fired Sun in 2023 after 'discovering evidence of misconduct.' Cuomo got national attention in 2020 for his daily pandemic briefings. He has since faced — and vociferously contested — criticism and congressional and federal Justice Department inquiries about his administration's handling of the virus in nursing homes. After resigning amid sexual harassment allegations in 2021, he conceded a Democratic primary race for New York City mayor this week. A message seeking comment on the new charges against Sun was sent to Cuomo's spokesperson. He has previously said Cuomo very rarely interacted with her. Sun also is accused of quietly doing the Chinese government's bidding by, for example, banishing any mention of Chinese human rights issues from a Hochul video celebrating the Lunar New Year. In return for Sun's efforts on China's behalf, prosecutors allege, Hu got assistance with business ventures in China. Prosecutors say the financial boost helped the couple buy multimillion-dollar properties and luxury cars.
South China Morning Post
17 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Ex-New York official facing Chinese agent charge indicted for US$35 million in kickbacks
A former top New York official earlier charged with acting as a Chinese agent was handed a second federal indictment alleging she received kickbacks for steering some US$35 million worth of healthcare contracts to favoured suppliers during the coronavirus pandemic , a federal court said on Thursday. The new charges against Linda Sun, 41 – once an aide to New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo – and against her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, 40, included wire fraud, bribery, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the US. 'As alleged, Linda Sun not only acted as [an] unregistered agent of the government of the People's Republic of China but also enriched herself to the tune of millions of dollars when New York state was at its most vulnerable' during the start of the pandemic, US attorney Joseph Nocella with the Eastern District of New York said in a statement. 'When masks, gloves and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits,' he added. Details of the superseding indictment were released on Thursday after the additional charges were handed down on Wednesday. Sun accompanied by her husband, Chris Hu, who also faces US federal charges. Photo: Reuters As outlined in court documents, in early 2020, Sun and a team of state employees drew on her connections in Beijing to obtain highly sought-after protective gear.
New York Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Former Aide to Hochul and Cuomo Faces Fresh Corruption Charges
More legal troubles have been piled on Linda Sun, a former aide to two New York governors who has been accused of using her position to help the Chinese government. Ms. Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, face new charges that they helped steer lucrative contracts to Chinese companies to sell masks and ventilators to New York's government at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. They received millions of dollars from those companies for helping secure the contracts and then failed to report the money as taxable income, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. Ms. Sun 'enriched herself to the tune of millions of dollars when New York State was at its most vulnerable,' Joseph Nocella Jr., the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release. Jarrod L. Schaeffer, a lawyer for Ms. Sun, said prosecutors were 'publicizing feverish accusations unmoored from the facts.' 'Ms. Sun vehemently denies these latest allegations and intends to vigorously contest them in court,' Mr. Schaeffer said in a statement. Seth DuCharme, a lawyer for Mr. Hu, said he remained confident in his client's innocence and that the government had been 'scrambling to try to come up with some new charging theory' with a trial approaching. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
