Federal court filings unsealed this week show that Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, Calif., agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge that she acted as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China. The 58-year-old resigned hours after the Department of Justice released the plea agreement; she faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted at sentencing.
According to prosecutors, from late 2020 through 2022 Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun operated a website called U.S. News Center aimed at the Chinese-language community in the Los Angeles area. Prosecutors say the platform pushed pro-Beijing messaging at the direction of PRC officials while concealing those ties from the public. Arcadia is a city of roughly 55,000 people with an Asian-majority population (about 59% as of 2024) and a large share of foreign-born residents (over 46%).
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement accompanying the charges. The Justice Department framed the plea as part of broader efforts to counter covert influence operations by China.
Wang’s lawyers issued a brief joint statement saying she “apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life.” One attorney suggested Wang had been influenced by a man she believed to be her fiance, describing personal trust as a factor in her conduct. Wang has described Yaoning “Mike” Sun as her fiance in prior comments.
Prosecutors say Sun, who worked as Wang’s campaign adviser and collaborator on the website, engaged in a range of covert activities on behalf of the PRC. In a separate prosecution, Sun was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent, including while advising a political campaign. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California confirmed to reporters that the political candidate referenced in that case was Wang.
Court documents detail instances in which PRC officials directed members of a group chat that included Wang to share articles and messaging supporting China’s positions on contentious issues. In June 2021, a PRC official circulated a Los Angeles Times essay described in the filings as explaining China’s stance on Xinjiang, with language denying genocide or forced labor. Wang allegedly posted the article to U.S. News Center within minutes and sent the link back to the official, who responded, “So fast, thank you everyone.” Later messages show PRC officials praising her work after she followed a request to omit a company’s name from a linked article. In November 2021, Wang urged John Chen—identified by prosecutors as a high-level PRC intelligence figure now serving 20 months in federal prison—to post material from her site; prosecutors quote Wang saying, “This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send.”
Legal filings say the U.S. News Center was used to promote favorable narratives and to carry out PRC requests while obscuring the true source of the content. Prosecutors also allege Sun surveilled the then-president of Taiwan during a 2023 visit to the region.
Experts and former U.S. intelligence officers say the case fits a pattern of Beijing attempting to cultivate influence inside American civic institutions. Nicholas Eftimiades, a former senior U.S. intelligence officer who studies Chinese espionage, described a rising trend of recruiting lower-level officials and community leaders in the hope they later obtain more influential positions. He called it a “whole of society” approach that differs from some Western intelligence priorities by targeting social, commercial and political networks broadly.
Recent prosecutions and investigative reporting have highlighted similar concerns. Federal prosecutors charged a former New York state government employee in 2024 with acting as an undisclosed agent of China while her husband allegedly aided in funneling kickbacks. And reporting years earlier raised concerns that a San Francisco-based staffer for then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein was allegedly recruited to gather information about local politics on behalf of Chinese intelligence, a matter the FBI reportedly discussed with the senator at the time.
Locally, Arcadia city officials said they were surprised by the full scope of the allegations when the plea agreement was unsealed. Deputy city manager Justine Bruno told reporters the council first conducted an internal review in December 2024 after Sun’s initial arrest and found no evidence of interference with city staff, finances or official decision-making.
Some residents expressed alarm that a local elected official would be implicated in a foreign influence operation. “This is happening everywhere,” one resident said, voicing a belief that foreign investment sometimes accompanies covert influence efforts. Others said the charges felt surreal. “It’s definitely the kind of stuff you see in the movies,” another resident said.
A hearing for Wang to formally enter her guilty plea has not yet been scheduled. The Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for comment on the case or the broader allegations in the filings.
