WASHINGTON: The mayor of Arcadia, California, has agreed to plead guilty to serving as an illegal agent for China, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Wang, who has resigned as mayor of Arcadia, is expected to plead guilty in Los Angeles federal court in the coming weeks.
Wang, 58, and her then-fiancé Sun Yaoning are accused of promoting pro-China propaganda in the United States at the request of Chinese government officials, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Mr Sun, 65, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in federal court last October.
In a related document, Wang agreed to plead guilty to a felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Wang was elected in November 2022 to the Arcadia City Council, a five-member governing body from which the mayor is elected on a rotating basis.
“Those in our country who covertly take orders from foreign governments undermine our democracy,” said Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
“This plea agreement is the latest in our determination to defend our homeland and oppose China’s corruption of our institutions,” Essaly said in a statement.
“By her own admission, Irene Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
“Let this be a clear warning: Individuals who influence our democracy on behalf of foreign governments will be identified, investigated and brought to justice,” Rozavsky said.
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the American people they represent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
According to her plea agreement, from late 2020 to 2022, Wang and Sun worked to direct and control Chinese government officials to promote Beijing’s interests, including by promoting pro-People’s Republic of China propaganda in the United States.
Wang and Sun run the website American News Center, which claims to be a news source for the local Chinese-American community.
The two received and carried out instructions from Chinese government officials to post pro-China content on the website.
Wang admitted in her plea agreement that she failed to notify the attorney general that she was acting as a Chinese agent in the United States.
She also failed to disclose on her website that some of her content was posted at the direction of members of the Chinese government.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
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