by Nicholas Zifcak & Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Linda Sun, former aide to New York governors, did Beijing’s bidding to enrich herself and her family, prosecutors said in closing arguments on Dec. 10 after a month-long trial.
In his summing-up, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon described Sun, who served under both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as a “valuable asset” for New York state’s Chinese Consulate.
Sun faces allegations of acting as a Chinese agent and of bribery in connection with state contracts, among other charges. Her husband, Chris Hu, is charged as a co-conspirator.
Due to procedural delays, the jury will begin deliberating on her case on Dec. 12.
The prosecution alleged that Sun sold her access in the state government to China to “grease the wheels” and aid her husband’s seafood export business in that country.
Hu’s business was a flop in early 2016, but when a Chinese businessman with state connections stepped in, Hu’s business boomed, Solomon said.
“[Sun] did the bidding of the Chinese government so that she and her husband, Hu, could get rich,” he said.
The defense argued that the government failed to provide evidence of a clear quid pro quo agreement between Sun and Chinese Communist Party officials. The defense argued that there was no link between Hu’s business and Sun’s assistance to the consulate.
“The government wants you to assume that because Chris Hu’s business started doing well, it was connected to Linda,” said Ken Abell, Sun’s attorney, in closing arguments.
Abell said Sun’s actions were not contrary to the interests of the United States or New Yorkers. Sun’s connection with the consulate helped secure a donation of 1,000 ventilators at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
However, the government characterized Sun’s work at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as self-interested.
“As COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on New York City, she thought to enrich herself,” Solomon said.
Sun first received benefits from Chinese officials in May 2016, Solomon said. As a representative of New York state, she traveled to Jiangsu Province, China, to promote business ties with New York state, according to prosecutors. While in China, Sun allegedly met with the chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, an organization under the United Front Work Department. The chairman agreed to hire Sun’s cousin, who was looking for a job, according to prosecutors.
Almost immediately thereafter, Sun began to reciprocate, prosecutors said. In June 2016, she alerted the Chinese Consulate that Taiwan had invited then-Lt. Gov. Hochul to a banquet in Washington. Hochul ended up attending a banquet hosted by the Chinese Embassy instead, the prosecution said.
Solomon cited several other incidents in which Sun allegedly exerted her influence to thwart Taiwan from reaching the governor’s office, including blocking an invitation to Cuomo to join a banquet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in New York City and convincing Hochul’s staff to decline an invitation to visit Taiwan.
Sun’s attorney Abell said the “government left out facts that didn’t fit its narrative.” He argued that important context was not presented and that Sun, at times, had pushed back on Chinese Consulate requests.
The defense argued that Sun was just doing her job and that the Asian American community was her portfolio.
Linked to Consul
Solomon said Sun was answerable to Huang Ping, the consul general of the Chinese Consulate in New York from 2018 to 2024.
“But who’s the boss?” Solomon asked. “The people she keeps in the dark, or the people she’s reporting back to? She’s talking to her real boss, Huang Ping.”
Sun was in frequent contact with Huang, as email communications released by prosecutors show.
After assisting Huang with a welcome event for Chinese officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport, she told the consul general, “I want to eat salted duck,” according to text messages.
Sun was telling Huang that “she did her job” and should be compensated, Solomon said.
“[Sun] bragged repeatedly to her handlers [about] what a good asset she had been,” he said.
Solomon said that in communications with the Chinese Consulate, Sun did not hesitate to share the inner workings of the governor’s office, including the fact that in 2018, Cuomo was considering replacing Hochul on the ticket in the coming election.
“Did she want to be viewed as an important person in the relationship between New York state and the Chinese consulate?“ Abell asked. ”Maybe she did.”
He argued that Sun did make inappropriate comments in text messages but that they should be seen as self-promotion, not as betrayal.
Sun also revealed to the Chinese Consulate that the governor was reconsidering a trip to China in 2018 when Chinese leader Xi Jinping was getting rid of term limits, telling the Chinese officials that she spent a long time arguing on their behalf, Solomon said.
Solomon argued that revealing such internal discussions of the governor’s office is an example of Sun’s familiarity with the consulate, demonstrating which team she was really on.
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