Eileen Wang Agrees to Plead Guilty in Foreign Agent Case
Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, according to federal officials. Authorities also confirmed Monday that Wang has resigned from her city position.
Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang will plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China and has resigned from office.
The 58-year-old was charged in April with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Prosecutors accused Wang of carrying out activities on behalf of Chinese officials, including distributing articles favorable to Beijing, without notifying the U.S. government as required under federal law.
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Wang was elected to Arcadia’s five-member city council in November 2022. The city’s mayoral position is selected on a rotating basis among council members.
City manager Dominic Lazzaretto said the alleged conduct did not involve city resources or personnel.
“We want to be clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022,” he said.
Federal authorities stated that Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
Her attorneys, Jason Liang and Brian Sun, said Wang accepts responsibility for what they described as “past personal mistakes.”
“She apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life,” Wang’s attorneys Jason Liang and Brian Sun said in a statement. “Her love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver.”
According to Wang’s plea agreement, she and Yaoning “Mike” Sun worked on behalf of officials from the People’s Republic of China between late 2020 and 2022. Prosecutors said the pair promoted pro-PRC propaganda in the United States.
Sun previously pleaded guilty to the same charge in October and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence. Campaign records also listed him as the treasurer for Wang’s 2022 election campaign.
Authorities said Wang and Sun operated the news website U.S. News Center, which targeted the Chinese American community. Chinese government officials allegedly directed them to publish content supportive of the PRC.
One example cited by prosecutors involved a June 2021 letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times by the Chinese consul general in Los Angeles. The article disputed reports of persecution, forced labor, and abuse involving Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province.
“There has never been genocide in Xinjiang or forced labor in the region’s cotton fields or any other sector,” the letter stated.
Officials said Wang reposted the article to her news website within minutes of receiving the link from a Chinese government official.
The United States and several other countries have described Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide and crimes against humanity.
At the time of the alleged activities, Wang was engaged to Sun, according to her attorneys. They stated that the relationship ended in spring 2024 and referred to “her trust and love for apparently the wrong person, who ultimately led her astray.”
Federal officials also said Wang communicated with John Chen, another individual who pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for the Chinese government and received a 20-month prison sentence.
Wang is expected to appear in federal court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday afternoon and formally enter her guilty plea in the coming weeks.
Located about 13 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Arcadia has a population of approximately 53,000 residents and is majority Asian, with a significant Chinese community.
