Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, California, walked into a federal courtroom Friday morning and pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China, bringing to a close a case that shocked the Southern California city she had been elected to lead.
Wang, 56, had been charged earlier this month by the Department of Justice with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She agreed to plead guilty shortly after the charge was announced. Sentencing is scheduled for October 6, and she faces up to 10 years in prison.
What She Admitted to Doing
In her plea agreement, Wang admitted to working alongside her former fiancé, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who had also served as one of her campaign staffers, to push pro-Chinese propaganda through a website called U.S. News Center. The site presented itself as a news source for the local Chinese American community.
Between 2020 and 2022, Wang and Sun operated under the direction and control of the Chinese government, coordinating with US-based individuals to promote its interests. They posted pro-China content on the website, including pre-written articles sent through a WeChat thread, an encrypted messaging app, which Wang shared with several others.
The Exchange That Says It All
Prosecutors pointed to a telling exchange from August 2021 between Wang and a Chinese government official. The official asked Wang to make changes to an article. After she made the edits, the official messaged back, “Great!” Wang’s response: “Thank you, leader.”
What the FBI Said
Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, did not mince words after the plea.
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“By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” he said, as per a report from CBS News. “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.”
Her Rise and Fall
Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in 2022 and began her term as mayor in February 2026. She resigned at the start of May, days after the charges were announced.
Her former fiancé and co-conspirator, Yaoning Sun, was sentenced to four years in prison on a similar charge earlier this year.