Former mayor of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, appeared in a Los Angeles federal court on the 29th and pleaded guilty to illegally acting as an agent for the Chinese government. The court has scheduled sentencing for October 6th, with a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
According to a Central News Agency report, Eileen Wang, who once served as mayor of Arcadia, a suburb of Los Angeles, was accused by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier in May of illegally acting as a foreign government agent within the United States and has agreed to plead guilty.
She is currently out on a $25,000 bail and appeared in downtown Los Angeles federal court on the 29th to enter a guilty plea. The "Los Angeles Times" reported that Wang appeared in court wearing a black suit and answered most of the judge's questions with "yes" or "no."
Prosecutors said that from the end of 2020 to 2022, Wang and Yaoning Sun published pro-China promotional content through the Chinese-language website "United States News Center" without legally disclosing that some of the content was directed by Chinese government officials.
The position of mayor in Arcadia rotates among city council members. Eileen Wang was elected as a city council member in November 2022 and later served as mayor.
● Modified Articles According to Requests from Chinese Officials
According to the plea agreement, Wang and Yaoning Sun jointly operated the "United States News Center," claiming it to be a news platform serving Chinese Americans. Prosecutors pointed out that the two actually published articles according to instructions from Chinese government officials and reported links, screenshots, and viewing statistics back to them.
Prosecutor documents stated that, in June 2021, Eileen Wang received a message and article link from a Chinese government official regarding the Xinjiang issue, with content asserting there is no genocide or forced labor in Xinjiang. Just a few minutes later, Wang published the article on the website and sent the link back to her contact.
Prosecutors said that Wang once modified articles at the request of Chinese government officials and reported the articles’ reach. According to the plea agreement, after one article received over 15,000 views, Wang replied to the official with "Thank you, leader."
● Prosecution: Secretly Working for a Foreign Government Undermines U.S. Democracy
The Department of Justice indicated that Wang never disclosed that this content was published under the direction of Chinese government personnel. Prosecutors believe that secretly working for a foreign government undermines the United States’ democratic system.
Wang’s co-defendant, Yaoning Sun, has also admitted to secretly working for the Chinese government and was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this year. The court had previously ordered Wang not to have contact with Chinese government personnel, including officials from the Chinese consulate in the U.S.