Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of acting as an illegal agent for China, according to an announcement by federal prosecutors on Monday. On the same day the announcement was made, the 58-year-old resigned from her position in office.
Wang is expected to formally enter her guilty plea in the coming weeks. The charge of acting in the United States as an illegal agent carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
According to a release from the Justice Department, Wang's plea agreement includes an admission that she worked with Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, to operate the U.S. News Center. While the center presented itself as a news source for the Chinese-American community, it was used to distribute content promoting the People's Republic of China.
Sun, who served as Wang's campaign adviser, was sentenced to four years in prison in February after pleading guilty to the same charge in October. Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in November 2022 and subsequently appointed mayor.
The plea agreement stipulates that from late 2020 through 2022, Wang worked with Sun, of Chino Hills, at the direction of officials from the PRC government to coordinate pro-China propaganda in the United States.
Justice Department officials stated that a PRC official contacted Wang and others via the WeChat messaging application in June 20 1 with a pre-written article, which Wang allegedly posted to her personal website within minutes. An excerpt of the exchange included in the Justice Department release showed the unidentified official responding to the post by saying, “So fast, thank you everyone.”
Prosecutors also alleged that Wang communicated with John Chen in November 2021. Chen, a high-level member of the PRC intelligence apparatus, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison in November 2024 following a guilty plea regarding a conspiracy to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center.
Following Wang's resignation from the Arcadia City Council on Monday, City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto stated that the council will select her successor from among the remaining members at the next meeting.
Lazzaretto noted that while the allegations of foreign influence are troubling, the investigation concerns individual conduct and the charges involve actions that ended after Wang was sworn into office in December 2022. He added that an internal review confirmed no city staff, finances, or decision-making processes were involved.
