Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia — a wealthy city of around 54,000 people in Los Angeles County, southern California — has agreed to plead guilty to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, the US Department of Justice announced on Monday. Wang, 58, resigned her position hours after the plea agreement was unsealed. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
According to prosecutors, Wang and her then-fiancé Yaoning "Mike" Sun, 65, operated a website called US News Center between late 2020 and 2022, which presented itself as a news source for the local Chinese American community while covertly publishing pro-Beijing propaganda at the direction of Chinese government officials. In one documented instance, a People's Republic of China (PRC) official shared pre-written articles — including an essay denying allegations of genocide against the Uyghur ethnic minority in China's far-western Xinjiang region — via an encrypted WeChat group chat. Wang posted the content to her website within minutes, earning a response from the PRC official: "So fast, thank you everyone." Wang also communicated with John Chen, a high-level PRC intelligence figure described as having a direct line to President Xi Jinping, and helped disseminate content the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs wished to circulate. Chen pleaded guilty in November 2024 to acting as an illegal Chinese agent and conspiracy to bribe a public official, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Sun was sentenced in February to four years in prison after his own guilty plea.
Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in November 2022, after the conduct described in the charges had ceased. Arcadia's city manager, Dominic Lazzaretto, confirmed that no city finances, staff, or decision-making processes were involved, and that the city council would select a new mayor from its remaining members at the next meeting. Wang's lawyers said she wished to apologise for "mistakes she made in her personal life" and emphasised that the conduct related solely to a media platform she ran with someone she believed to be her fiancé, not to her duties as an elected official.
US officials were unsparing in their assessments. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said it was "deeply concerning" that someone who had executed directives from PRC officials had held a position of public trust without ever disclosing that relationship. First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli described the case as part of a broader effort to "defend the homeland against China's efforts to corrupt our institutions," while the FBI's counterintelligence division warned that those who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence American democracy "will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice."
The case comes as US President Donald Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, with discussions set to cover trade, Taiwan, and other issues — providing a charged diplomatic backdrop to a prosecution that underscores persistent US concerns about Chinese influence operations on American soil.