Ex-gubernatorial aide, husband used her position to 'enrich themselves,' with kickbacks, bribes from Chinese companies, prosecutor argues at trial's close

Linda Sun, the ex-gubernatorial aide from Long Island accused of working as an agent for China, used her contacts there — and her position in state government — to build up her husband’s lobster export business, a federal prosecutor said in a closing argument Tuesday that told a rags-to-riches story. 

Chris Hu, Sun’s husband and co-defendant, began in 2016 collecting unemployment and ended the year running a multimillion-dollar seafood export company, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon told the jury in Brooklyn federal court.

Sun, Solomon said, received millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes by steering New York State contracts for personal protective equipment — PPE — to Chinese companies at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

"Linda Sun worked in state government at one of the darkest times in New York State history," Solomon said. "And where others saw a crisis, Linda Sun and Chris Hu saw an opportunity — to enrich themselves."

Sun, 41, a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul and then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, pleaded not guilty to charges that include violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, bank fraud and other charges.

Hu, 42, also pleaded not guilty to money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and other charges. Solomon is expected to finish his summation some time on Wednesday, and then defense attorneys for Sun and Hu will give the jury their closing arguments before U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan gives the jury its instructions. The trial began on Nov. 12.

Sun lied to New York State procurement officials by falsely telling them that the companies she steered PPE contracts to were recommended by the Chinese government, Solomon said.

"She did that in return for millions of dollars in kickback or bribe payments. Money that Chris Hu laundered from China back into the United States," Solomon said of the kickbacks she allegedly received from company officials.

Hu opened dummy accounts — "accounts he used to receive $1.5 million in bribe payments" — in the name of Mei-Ping Sun, Sun’s mother and his mother-in-law, Solomon said.

Sun forged Hochul’s signature on invitations purporting to be from the state government that allowed Chinese officials to unlawfully obtain visas to travel to the United States. She blocked representatives of Taiwan from the governor’s office and "bragged repeatedly to her handlers about what a good asset she was to them," Solomon said.

Hu’s export business appeared headed for failure — a shipment of lobsters died after being left out of water for 50 hours — but Sun cultivated relationships with officials in the Henan provincial government that helped cut red tape with shipping and customs for the company and made the couple rich. The couple purchased a $4 million home in Manhasset, a condominium in Hawaii and a luxury sports car with the illegal proceeds, prosecutors said. Not bad, Solomon suggested, for a couple supposedly living on a civil servant’s salary and unemployment.

"PRC (People’s Republic of China) consulate showered Linda Sun and Chris Hu with benefits, treating her like the valuable asset that she was," Solomon said.

Sun joined the Cuomo administration in 2012. She later worked as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff and later at the state’s Department of Labor. Sun persuaded Hochul, then Cuomo’s lieutenant governor, to film a Lunar New Year video touting China’s New York consulate, Solomon said. She later bragged to a Chinese official that Hochul was "much more obedient than the governor."