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.