Mistrial declared in Chinese influence case in New York

A federal judge in New York declared a mistrial in the case of a former aide to two governors who is charged with acting as an unregistered Chinese agent who received kickbacks for influencing the state government.

Judge Brian Cogan sitting in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn took the action Monday in the case of Linda Sun and her husband Chris Hu after jurors failed to reach a verdict after a week of deliberations in a trial that also included money-laundering, bank fraud and tax evasion charges.

Alexander A. Solomon, a prosecutor, said in court on Monday the government would retry the case as soon as possible. A legal conference of lawyers is scheduled for Jan. 26.

Ms. Sun was indicted on 19 charges. They include failing to register as a Chinese government agent, bribery linked to state government contracts, money laundering and visa fraud. Mr. Hu is charged with money laundering, misuse of personal identification, bank fraud and tax evasion.

Judge Cogan said earlier that he did not believe jurors would be able to resolve disagreements on the cases and said in court he would be “surprised if they come to an agreement.”

Jurors informed the judge on Thursday they were unable to reach a unanimous decision based on “fundamental differences on the evidence and interpretation of the law.”

Prosecutors had asked jurors whether they could reach a verdict on some of the charges and were told the jurors were deadlocked on all counts.

One of the jurors said all but two of the 12 members of the jury were prepared to declare Ms. Sun and Mr. Hu guilty on 18 of 19 charges, the New York Post reported. A lone juror was the holdout as others were prepared to convict on the remaining count.

“It was almost all guilty,” said the female juror who declined to give her name.

The month-long trial included evidence revealing that Ms. Sun, as an aide to former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and current Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, used her position to support Chinese Communist Party policies, including blocking meetings between the governors and officials from Taiwan and removing language that criticized Beijing’s human rights abuses.

Evidence at the trial disclosed that China engaged in an influence operation targeting the state government that was run by a CCP organization known as the United Front Work Department, the organization involved in global promotion of Beijing policies through both legal and illegal means.

Kevin Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, said the charges demonstrate “brazen attempts of the [People’s Republic of China] to corrupt our political processes.”

“As alleged in the indictment, Linda Sun and Chris Hu deceived the highest leadership of New York government to further the political agenda of the government of China,” Mr. Vorndran said earlier this year.

The charges of corruption included that Ms. Sun steered contracts to Chinese vendors for personal protective gear during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors said the couple received millions in kickbacks from the Chinese that they used to buy a $4.1 million house on Long Island, a $2.1 million condominium in Hawaii and a 2024 Ferrari.

Prosecutors introduced as evidence during the trial text messages between Ms. Sun and Chinese officials in the Chinese consulate in New York.

One of the messages revealed that Ms. Sun had bragged about her influence over New York state officials. In another she said Ms. Hochul was more compliant and easier to manipulate than Mr. Cuomo.

Jarrod Schaeffer, a lawyer for Ms. Sun, said in a statement to reporters the failure of jurors to reach a verdict highlighted “how questionable and flawed these charges were.”

“Throughout this trial, Linda Sun has steadfastly maintained her innocence — and that does not change now,” he said.