(Minghui.org) Former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang pleaded guilty to acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government—the People’s Republic of China—in a federal court on May 29, 2026. Under U.S. law, illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. Wang will be sentenced on October 6, 2026.
According to ABC and other media on May 29, Wang, 56, admitted in federal court that she followed the directions of a Chinese regime official and posted pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) articles on her Chinese-language news website, US News Center. She recently resigned from her mayoral and city councilor positions.
Prosecutors said Wang worked on the website with her former fiancé, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, and operated a Chinese-language news website in the United States to disseminate propaganda on behalf of the CCP. Prosecutors stated that Wang failed to disclose to readers that the content was, in fact, published at the direction of the CCP regime. She posted articles at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party, and then reported back to her handlers with screenshots showing how many people viewed the content.
According to the Department of Justice, the CCP official provided pre-written news articles and told Wang to post them on the website. Wang sent the official a link to the article via Wechat, a Chinese messaging app, to confirm the posting.
In another case, Wang made edits to an article, sent the official a link to the article reflecting the requested change, then sent the official a screenshot showing the article had been viewed 15,128 times. In response, the official messaged, “Great!” to which Wang replied, “Thank you leader.”
“By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. “Let this serve as a clear warning: Individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice.”
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China’s efforts to corrupt our institutions.”
Prosecutors pointed out that Wang was in the US to perform these acts but she did not register as a foreign government agent.
Records indicate that Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in 2022. Arcadia is located in eastern Los Angeles County and has a high proportion of Chinese residents. US prosecutors stated that if local elected officials maintain covert cooperative relationships with foreign governments, it will severely erode public trust.
Arcadia City Council Member Sharon Kwan stated in an interview that she previously attempted to draw public attention to Wang’s conduct but encountered resistance within the City Council. She said, “Protecting American democracy and preventing foreign influence is of utmost importance.”
Wang’s former fiancé, Mike Sun, is serving a four-year federal prison for acting as an illegal agent for the CCP in Los Angeles to target Falun Gong and Taiwan, as well as being involved in local elections.
The court document shows that in November 2021, Wang contacted John Chen, also a CCP agent. Chen was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in federal prison for attempting to bribe an IRS official to attack Falun Gong as part of the CCP’s efforts to persecute the performing arts company.
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Category: News Commentary
