Former California Mayor Eileen Wang Pleads Guilty to Acting as Chinese Agent; Faces Up to 10 Years

Former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang appeared in a Los Angeles federal court today and pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. The court is scheduled to sentence her on October 6, with a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. Eileen Wang served as mayor of Arcadia, a suburb of Los Angeles. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice earlier in May, Wang was accused of acting as an illegal agent for a foreign government within the U.S. and had agreed to plead guilty. Currently out on a $25,000 bond, she appeared in the downtown Los Angeles federal court today to enter her plea. The Los Angeles Times reported that Wang appeared in a black suit and mostly answered the judge's questions with "yes" or "no." Prosecutors stated that Wang and Yaoning Sun published pro-China propaganda through the Chinese-language website "U.S. News Center" between late 2020 and 2022 without disclosing that some of the content was directed by Chinese government officials. The position of mayor in Arcadia is rotated among city council members; Wang was elected to the city council in November 2022 and subsequently served as mayor. According to the plea agreement, Wang and Sun co-managed the "U.S. News Center," claiming it was a news platform serving Chinese Americans. Prosecutors pointed out that the two actually published articles according to instructions from Chinese government officials and reported performance metrics such as article links, screenshots, and view counts. Prosecution documents indicate that in June 2021, Wang received messages and links from a Chinese official regarding Xinjiang, claiming that genocide or forced labor did not exist there. Minutes later, Wang published the article on the website and sent the link back to the official. Prosecutors stated that Wang modified articles at the request of Chinese officials and reported on their reach. According to the plea agreement, after one article received over 15,000 views, Wang replied to the official, "Thank you, leader." The Department of Justice noted that Wang never disclosed that this content was published under the direction of Chinese government personnel. Prosecutors believe that acting secretly for a foreign government undermines the U.S. democratic system. Wang's co-defendant, Yaoning Sun, has also pleaded guilty to working secretly for the Chinese government and was sentenced to four years in prison this year. The court had previously ordered Wang not to contact Chinese government personnel, including Chinese consular officials in the U.S.