California Mayor Resigns After Admitting She Secretly Worked as Chinese Government Agent

Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang agreed to plead guilty Monday in a Los Angeles federal court to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, according to the Justice Department, and resigned the same day from the city council seat that made her mayor of the Southern California city.

Federal prosecutors and court records say Wang, 58, worked with her then-fiancé Yaoning "Mike" Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, from late 2020 through 2022 at the direction and control of PRC government officials. Chinese officials and pro-PRC content sit at the center of the case, which became public Monday after prosecutors unsealed an April 1 charge and plea agreement.

Wang served as mayor of Arcadia, a city of about 55,000, roughly 15 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Voters elected her to the five-person city council in November 2022, and the city selects its mayor on a rotating basis. She began her mayoral term in February 2026.

According to her plea agreement, Wang and Sun operated U.S. News Center, a website that presented itself as a news source for the local Chinese-American community. Prosecutors said the pair received and carried out directives from PRC government officials, including requests to post pro-PRC propaganda in the U.S.

Sun was not just Wang's co-conspirator — he was also her fiancé and campaign treasurer. Prosecutors accused Sun and his Chinese government contacts of cultivating Wang in hopes that she would rise in politics and help strengthen China's influence in California. Wang said her relationship with Sun ended in spring 2024. Sun pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and was sentenced to four years in federal prison earlier this year.

In 2021, prosecutors said PRC officials contacted Wang through encrypted WeChat messages and sent prewritten news articles. In one example from the court filings, a PRC official requested edits to an article. Wang made the changes, sent a link showing the revision, and later sent a screenshot showing the article had been viewed 15,128 times.

The filings also describe a November 2021 exchange involving John Chen, whom court records identify as a high-level member of the PRC intelligence apparatus. Prosecutors said Chen regularly attended elite Chinese Communist Party functions, including military parades, and met personally with PRC President Xi Jinping. Wang asked Chen to post a "news" article from her website and wrote, "This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send."

Court records say Sun, acting at the direction of PRC government officials, also coordinated with others to promote China's interests by organizing a team to help elect Wang to the Arcadia City Council. Wang became the first Chinese-American woman elected to the council, which gave the case added local weight in a city with a large Chinese-American community.

Wang appeared in federal court on Monday and was released on a $25,000 bond. She faces one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government in the U.S.

Federal officials framed the case as a violation of public trust. "By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government," FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said in the DOJ release. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg added, "Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent."

Wang's own attorneys leaned into the personal dimension of the case, saying her conduct related solely to "a media platform that she once operated with someone whom she believed to be her fiancé." Their statement referenced her trust and love for "apparently the wrong person who ultimately led her astray."

Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto sought to separate the criminal case from city operations after Wang's resignation. "We want to be clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022," he said. He also said no city finances or staff were involved.

Local reaction focused on the damage to confidence in City Hall. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda B. Elbogen told ABC7, "Arcadia has a large Chinese-American community, and so it's concerning when someone is in that position of power who has previously, at the very least, acted on behalf of China."

The case now moves forward in federal court.