A mistrial was declared on Monday in the closely watched case of a former senior New York official charged with acting as a Chinese agent after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
The jury remained deadlocked on all 19 counts after several days of deliberation in the case of Linda Sun, a former aide to New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo, on charges of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara).
She and her husband and co-defendant Chris Hu were also charged with routing some US$35 million worth of healthcare contracts to favoured suppliers during the pandemic, tied to charges of wire fraud, bribery, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
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Alexander Solomon, a prosecutor, told the court on Monday that the government wanted to retry the couple as soon as possible. A status conference is set for January 26, 2006.
The case alleging Sun’s close ties to the Chinese government, which has drawn widespread US media attention, was filed in September 2024 and is linked to her alleged work as an unregistered Chinese agent during her tenure in state government. Among the influence peddling charges were visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering.
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Linda Sun, ex-aide to New York governor, charged with acting as undisclosed Chinese agent
Linda Sun, ex-aide to New York governor, charged with acting as undisclosed Chinese agent
A complicating factor in the roughly three-week trial may have been the Donald Trump administration’s move this year to soften Fara, a law created to monitor political influence peddling in Washington, in favour of its use in more “traditional” espionage cases.