Copyright New York Daily News
Former Hochul and Cuomo aide Linda Sun wasn’t betraying the people of New York at the behest of China, she was just doing her job, her defense lawyer said — and that job included keeping the governor away from thorny international topics like relations with Taiwan. “Linda Sun did what she was hired to do. That is what the evidence will show,” her lawyer, Jarod Schaeffer, said Wednesday, in his opening argument at Sun’s Brooklyn Federal Court trial. “And she didn’t commit a crime by doing her job.” Sun, who started working in the governor’s office in 2012, and her husband, Chris Hu, were indicted last year, accused of helping shape state policy in exchange for millions in kickbacks and gifts — including specially cooked salted ducks for her parents. In June, the feds hit her with with more charges, accusing Sun of steering $35 million in state contracts to two PPE vendors run by a cousin and her husband at the height of the COVID pandemic. In his opening, Schaeffer argued that Sun “never had to register as a foreign agent because she wasn’t one.” He said her actions — which the feds say included making sure Hochul, Cuomo and their administration officials did not meet with Taiwanese officials or attend their events — aligned with U.S. and New York State policy. “The government’s claims that she became a foreign agent for salted duck might be funny, if the consequences for her and her family weren’t so serious,” he said, adding, “Gifts are a common cultural and political practice. You’ll see that the governor got gifts and benefits.” Federal prosecutors see her actions as something more nefarious than the works of a deft political operator. “This case is about betrayal. This case is about greed,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Shami said Wednesday. “Her loyalty was for sale, and the Chinese government, which wanted to influence the New York State government, was willing to pay Sun.” Prosecutors allege Sun prevented Taiwanese government representatives from getting access to the governor and changed Cuomo and Hochul’s messaging on issues important to the Chinese government. She obtained gubernatorial proclamations without permission for Chinese government officials, arranged meetings for visiting diplomats, and issued unauthorized invitation letters from the governor’s office to make it easier for Chinese officials to travel to the U.S., the feds allege. “She forged Gov. Hochul’s signature on letters to invite Chinese officials to visit New York,” Shami said, adding that Sun secretly added a Chinese Consulate official to a Cuomo administration conference call on the COVID crisis. In return, the Chinese government steered business to her husband’s companies and she received perks — including Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by one Chinese government official’s personal chef and delivered to Sun’s parents, according to the feds. The scheme’s proceeds were laundered to pay for Sun’s $3.6 million Manhasset home, a $1.9 million condo in Honolulu and luxury vehicles, including a 2024 Ferrari Roma, the feds allege. “Linda Sun was for sale, and helping Chris Hu’s businesses was one of the ways China was able to pay,” Shami said. Sun started working in the governor’s office in 2012, when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo hired her to become his administration’s liaison to local Asian American communities, specifically in Queens. She became the external affairs director of Empire State Development’s Global NY program, a post that included her leading trade and investment missions to five different countries each year, according to her LinkedIn profile. Sun was appointed as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff in September 2021 and left the job in November 2022 to work as a deputy commissioner in the New York Department of Labor. She was fired by the Department of Labor in March 2023 after “evidence of misconduct,” a Hochul spokesman said last year. Sun and her husband face a slew of charges, including failure to register as a foreign agent, conspiracy, federal program bribery, money laundering and wire fraud. Their trial is expected to last three weeks.
