Hung jury ends trial of ex-New York governors’ aide accused of selling influence to China
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the corruption case of a former aide to New York governors after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked and couldn’t reach a verdict on charges she sold her influence to China and profited from a medical equipment scheme during the pandemic.
The federal jury in Brooklyn was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case against Linda Sun and her husband, Chris Hu. The foreperson said the panel was deadlocked on all 19 counts.
“Your honor, after extensive deliberations and re-deliberations the jury remains unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The jurors positions are firmly held,” the jury said in a note to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan shortly after resuming deliberations Monday with an alternate juror taking the place of a juror who had to leave because of prior travel commitments.
Prosecutor Alexander Solomon told the judge that the government wants to retry the case “as soon as possible.”
Hu’s lawyer, Nicole Boeckmann, said, “Chris Hu has been adamant that he is innocent on all counts and maintains this position.”
“The jury’s inability to reach a unanimous verdict after their commitment to attentively sitting through and thoroughly weighing the evidence in a long, protracted trial such as this emphasizes the flawed theories upon which the government brought their final charges,” Boeckmann said.
Accusations of acting as an agent for China
Sun was accused of using her state government position to subtly advance Beijing’s agenda in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars. They say Sun also took kickbacks from Chinese companies to steer lucrative state contracts for face masks and other critical medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case and nearly monthlong trial were part of a broader Justice Department effort to root out agents working clandestinely in the U.S. for the Chinese government as it seeks to influence U.S. politics and harass and threaten dissidents overseas.
Sun was charged with acting as an unregistered agent for China, visa fraud, money laundering and other counts. Hu was charged with money laundering, bank fraud and tax evasion. They were charged jointly with wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Sun, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, held numerous posts over a roughly 15-year career in state government, including as deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and deputy diversity officer under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats.
She was fired in 2023 after the Hochul administration said it discovered the misconduct.
Prosecutors allege betrayal in return for riches
During the trial, prosecutors said Sun took steps to align the state’s messaging with Chinese government priorities. They said emails and phone messages showed how she worked to prevent representatives of Taiwan’s government, which China does not recognize as sovereign, from interacting with the governor’s office.
In one instance, Sun even scuttled an invitation for Cuomo to meet Taiwan’s president while on a visit to the U.S.
Prosecutors said she also pushed to remove references in official statements that referenced the Uighurs, a persecuted Muslim minority group in China. They said Sun forged Hochul’s signature on official letters so that Chinese officials could obtain visas to enter the country.
Sun “bragged repeatedly to her handlers in the Chinese government about what a good asset she had been,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon, in his closing arguments.
In return, she reaped millions of dollars in financial benefits, including helping turn her husband’s fledgling business of exporting American lobsters to China into a lucrative enterprise.
Prosecutors say the couple also took steps to hide the ill-gotten gains, using a system of cash pickups, shell companies and payments through third parties and relatives — all laid out in detailed spreadsheets maintained by Hu.
They say the sudden riches allowed the couple to live lavishly, purchasing a multimillion-dollar home on Long Island, a $1.9 million condominium in Hawaii, a new Ferrari and other luxury cars. Sun and Hu also enjoyed other perks, including Nanjing-style salted ducks that were prepared by a Chinese official’s personal chef, prosecutors said.
“Linda Sun betrayed the state of New York to enrich herself,” Solomon said. “You saw it time and again, a clear pattern of corruption.”
Sun’s lawyers cast her as a proud American and loyal public servant
Kenneth Abell, in his closing remarks, acknowledged that Sun carefully cultivated official relationships with Chinese consulate officials, but he also pointed to other instances when Sun met with and was even honored by the local Taiwanese community.
He argued that Sun’s decision to block an the invitation to meet the president of Taiwan was in keeping with past practice. No New York governor has ever met with the president of Taiwan.
“She was just being careful,” Abell said. “It was not her place to push a policy on Taiwan.”
Prosecutors, he added, didn’t provide any evidence to their claim that Sun had forged Hochul’s signature on visa documents for Chinese officials.
He also questioned why Chinese companies would even need to make bribes to win state contracts during the pandemic. After all, Abell argued, New York and other state were spending freely and quickly as they stockpiled critical medical supplies.
“The story has huge holes in it,” he said. “The government is trying hard to fit the facts into its narrative.”
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