CNN — 

A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government, US Attorney Breon Peace announced Tuesday.

Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, was also charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud as well as misusing means of identification, prosecutors said.

Their home was raided by federal investigators in July, according to sources.

Sun acted as “an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain,” prosecutors said.

Sun and Hu were arrested at their Long Island residence Tuesday morning.

Sun and Hu both pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court Tuesday afternoon. Sun’s bond is set at $1.5 million and her husband’s is set at $500,000. Both will have their travel limited to New York City, Long Island, Maine and New Hampshire.

During the hearing, prosecutors highlighted how the defendants allegedly used multiple shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages – with everything in Mandarin – in their alleged crimes.

Defense attorney Seth DuCharme addressed reporters outside court Tuesday, saying “we have a lot of confidence in our case.”

“A lot of the allegations in this indictment are frankly perplexing, overly inflammatory,” he said. “As you heard in court today, we are looking forward to our day in court. The defendants are exercising their right to a speedy trial as soon as they can; we have a lot of confidence in Chris and in Linda.”

Their next status conference is set for September 25.

Sun “was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago. We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, said in a statement to CNN.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said in a statement that national security “must be free from foreign influence.” “While Ms Sun was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff in the subsequent administration, during our time she worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor.”

Allegations of unauthorized letters, money laundering and salted ducks from the Chinese government

Sun violated internal rules and state government protocols in order to benefit the Chinese government, according to court documents.

Among Sun’s activities, prosecutors say, she acted as an undisclosed agent of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, acting at their request and engaging in political activities to further the interests of the CCP.

The indictment details an effort by Sun to secure “unauthorized invitation letters” from the office of the governor which were then used to facilitate travel by government officials with the People’s Republic of China into the United States for meetings with state officials in New York.

华裔女助手为纽约州政府工作已经超过十年。