Corruption case against ex-gubernatorial aide Linda Sun, husband, headed for jury's consideration after judge's instructions

The federal jury who will decide the fate of the former gubernatorial aide from Long Island, accused of raking in millions of dollars while working as an agent for China, is expected to begin deliberations on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan, who is overseeing the trial of Linda Sun and her husband Chris Hu in Brooklyn, began — but did not finish — charging the jury on Thursday afternoon. Cogan said he will complete giving the jury its instructions on Friday. The jurors will begin deliberations after that.

The government alleges that Sun advanced policies favorable to China while working as a top aide for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and, later, Gov. Kathy Hochul. Sun used relationships she cultivated with Chinese officials that helped turn Hu’s flailing lobster export company into a multimillion dollar business, prosecutors argued.

Federal prosecutors have said Sun 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. Hu, prosecutors said, laundered that money through various bank accounts and failed to report it on tax filings.

"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," Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon told the jury in his closing on Tuesday.

The couple purchased a $4 million home in Manhasset, a condominium in Hawaii, luxury automobiles and other items with the illegal proceeds, prosecutors said.

Sun, 41, joined Cuomo’s administration in 2012 and later worked as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff and then at the state’s Department of Labor. She has 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.

On Wednesday, attorneys for Sun and Hu told the jury on Wednesday that the prosecutors’ case failed to prove the charges against the couple. Sun’s lawyer, Kenneth Abell, called the case a "hodgepodge of accusations" and said the government’s case was full of "huge holes." He said the government provided no witness testimony or evidence that Sun worked at the direction of the Chinese government.

"The fact that they have assets that are valuable does not mean that the defendants have engaged in any kind of wrongdoing," Abell said in his closing statement.

Nicole Boeckmann, one of Hu’s lawyers, told the jury that prosecutors failed to prove that Sun’s relationships with Chinese officials boosted Hu’s then-struggling business.

"The government," she said, "has fallen short."