Arcadia Mayor steps down after being charged as illegal Chinese agent

Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang resigned from her post and agreed to plead guilty to acting in the interest of the Chinese government. Wang was charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government in April. She also shared articles favorable to China without notifying the U.S. government, as is required by law. The 58-year-old's felony comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years.

"She apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life," Wang's attorneys Jason Liang and Brian Sun said in a statement. "Her love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver." As per the plea agreement, Wang and a colleague, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, worked on behalf of the Chinese government from the end of 2020 to 2022 to promote their agenda in the U.S. Sun newspaper.

Sun is already serving a four-year sentence as he pleaded guilty to the same charges in October last year. Being a government official, the mayor of Arcadia, makes Wang's case more of a high-profile matter. Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said that none of the city's funds were used for Wang's felony. "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.

In a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg expressed concern that an individual who had acted on behalf of the Chinese government held a "position of public trust." What was more concerning, as per Eisenberg, was the fact that Wang had never disclosed her relationship with the government in China.

Roman Rozhavsky, Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, took the opportunity to warn foreign powers against using American nationals as illegal operatives. "Let this serve as a clear warning: Individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice. Protecting the rule of law and the transparency of our democratic process remains at the core of the FBI's mission," he said.

According to the release, Wang communicated with John Chen, a high-level member of the Chinese intelligence, who regularly attended government events. In November 2021, she asked Chen to post an article from her website, mentioning that it was what the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send." In November 2024, Chen was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison as he pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal Chinese agent. He was also charged with conspiracy to bribe a public official.