Former Aide To New York Governors Charged With Acting As ‘Secret Agent’ To China

New York: A former aide to former New York Governors, Kathy Houchal and Andrew Cuomo, has been charged with acting as a ‘secret agent’ for the Chinese government, CNN reported citing US Attorney Breon Peace’s statement. Consistent with an unsealed copy of the indictment, Linda Sun, the former aide, who served as Deputy Chief of Personnel to both governors, has multiple charges, including violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, smuggling and money laundering conspiracy.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, changed into also charged with conspiracy of money laundering, committing bank fraud to boot as misusing process of identification, prosecutors alleged. Their home changed into raided by federal investigators in July, CNN reported citing sources.

Consistent with the prosecutors, Sun acted as “an undisclosed agent of the Chinese Government while her husband, Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of bucks in kickbacks for private gain.” Both Sun and Hu were arrested on Tuesday morning at their Long Island place of dwelling. They both pleaded no longer guilty to the whole costs in federal court on Tuesday. The judge set bail at USD 1.5 million for Sun and USD five hundred,000 for Hu. They were both required to limit their shuttle to New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.

The prosecutors, worldwide the hearing, alleged that the couple used secret verbal exchange methods and shell companies to carry out their crimes. ‘The defendants allegedly used iCloud accounts, WeChat messages written in Mandarin, and other tactics to hide their activities,’ the prosecutors claimed.

“We now have reasonably reasonably a host self assurance in our case.” said Defense attorney Seth DuCharme to reporters on Tuesday after the hearing, news agency ANI reported.  “Quite a few the allegations on this indictment are frankly perplexing, overly inflammatory,” he said. “As you heard in court as of late, we are looking ahead to our day in court. The defendants are exercising their right to a speedy trial as soon as they'll; we now have got reasonably reasonably a host self assurance in Chris and in Linda.” He in the same way added.

Their next status conference is ready for September 25. Sun “changed into hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago. We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, instantly reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement worldwide this process,” Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, said in a press release to CNN.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said in a press release that national security “has to be free from foreign influence”, adding that, “While Ms Sun changed into promoted to Deputy Chief of Personnel in the subsequent administration, worldwide our time she worked in a handful of agencies and changed into one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor.”

(With ANI Inputs)