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TheProle

(4,121 posts) Tue May 12, 2026, 06:01 PM May 12

California Mayor Resigns, Admitting to Being an Agent for China

The mayor of a Los Angeles suburb resigned Monday, as U.S. officials announced that she will plead guilty in federal court to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government.

Federal prosecutors announced Monday that Eileen Wang, 58, of Arcadia, Calif., has been charged with one count of acting in the U.S. as an illegal agent of a foreign government and is “expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks.” The charge is punishable with up to 10 years in prison.

“Mayor Wang admitted to acting as a foreign agent from at least 2020 through 2022 - promoting PRC propaganda in the U.S. and acting at PRC’s direction to promote their interests,” FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X. “FBI and our federal partners continue to move aggressively to root out this kind of influence in American institutions all over the country.”

Wang was elected in November 2022 to the five-member Arcadia City Council, where the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a statement Monday that Wang, who became mayor in February, has resigned from the council.

https://time.com/article/2026/05/12/arcadia-california-mayor-eileen-wang-agent-china/

2 replies

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California Mayor Resigns, Admitting to Being an Agent for China (Original Post) TheProle May 12 OP

Specifics of Wang's crime of being an illegal agent of a foreign government from the link. PufPuf23 May 12 #1

Now, Israel, Russia, and the Saudis and Omanis, when the spy is a Republican, on the other hand? AZJonnie May 12 #2

PufPuf23

(9,963 posts)

1. Specifics of Wang's crime of being an illegal agent of a foreign government from the link.

Reply to TheProle (Original post)

Tue May 12, 2026, 06:17 PM

May 12

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a track record of attempting to influence other countries’ affairs to advance its interests. It has meddled in elections, targeted overseas Chinese dissidents, and conducted information and propaganda campaigns, according to government and journalistic reports.

“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in the Monday announcement, adding that the plea agreement Wang has entered into is “the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China’s efforts to corrupt our institutions.”

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Wang is the former fiancée of Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison earlier this year for similarly acting as a covert agent for China, including, according to the U.S. Justice Department at the time, while he was serving as a campaign adviser for an unnamed candidate “who was elected to the city council of a Southern California city.” Sun was Wang’s former campaign adviser.

cut

Wang is alleged to have worked with Sun, her then-fiancé, to run a website called U.S. News Center that purported to be a news source for Chinese-Americans. According to the agreement, the two “received and executed directives” from Chinese government officials to post and circulate pro-PRC content on the site.

AZJonnie

(4,044 posts)

2. Now, Israel, Russia, and the Saudis and Omanis, when the spy is a Republican, on the other hand?

Reply to TheProle (Original post)

Tue May 12, 2026, 07:05 PM

May 12

Never any harm or foul in a case like that!

That's just, you know, prudent deal-making that just HAPPENED to benefit the other country, but mainly it was just about making America great again!

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