California political activist allegedly acted as illegal agent of China: DOJ
A Chino Hills, California A man has been arrested for allegedly working as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) while also serving as a campaign manager for a local politician elected to office in 2022.
The USA Ministry of Justice (DOJ) said 64-year-old Yaoning “Mike” Sun was arrested Thursday and charged with acting as an illegal agent of China and conspiring with another man, Chen Jun, who was convicted in November on bribery charges and also was sentenced to prison for bribery and was acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Sun served as campaign manager for a Southern California politician who was not named in the lawsuit but identified only as “Person 1.” Individual 1 was ultimately elected to a city council position in a city not named in the complaint in 2022.
Sun and Chen communicated during the campaign to support the person’s election.
Chen Jun, with whom Yaoning “Mike” Sun allegedly worked, was sentenced to prison in November on charges of bribery and illegally acting as an agent of the Chinese government. (Ministry of Justice)
The DOJ said Chen allegedly spoke with Chinese government officials about how China could “influence” local American politicians, particularly on the issue of Taiwan.
Shortly after Person 1 was elected into office in November 2022, Chen allegedly asked Sun to prepare a report on the election. The report was sent to Chinese government officials, who responded positively and thanked him, according to the complaint.
Nearly a month after the person’s election, Chen also organized a lunch with Sun and others at a Rowland Heights restaurant. The meeting was described by Chen to a PRC official as a “core members’ lunch,” the DOJ said. Person 1 was reportedly not at the lunch, although Chen told Chinese government officials that the person was part of the “base team for us.”
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Chen told the PRC official that the lunch was “successful,” adding that participants agreed to establish a “U.S.-China Friendship Promotion Association.”
In early 2023, Chen reportedly commissioned Sun to write another report Officials of the People’s Republic of China about the two “cultivating and supporting” Individual 1’s success.
When the second report was completed in February 2023, Sun Chen sent a proposal to combat “anti-China forces” by participating in a U.S. Independence Day parade in Washington, D.C., the complaint said.
China’s President Xi Jinping speaks after a group photo during the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, November 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
While the two men continued their efforts in the United States, Sun reportedly asked the PRC to provide them with a budget of $80,000.
The complaint alleges that Chen and Sun discussed a planned trip to China to meet with “executives.” It is also alleged that Sun was instructed by Chen to arrange a meeting with the Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles. Finally, in August 2023, Sun and Person 1 traveled to China, the complaint states.
Sun faces up to 10 years in prison act as an illegal agent a foreign government if he is convicted.
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He also faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiring to commit a crime against the United States
