Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has consequently resigned from her city position. The announcement was made on Monday by officials following charges filed in April, accusing Wang of operating in the United States as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Her alleged activities involved promoting the interests of Chinese officials, specifically by sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without the legally required prior notification to the U.S. government.

Wang, 58, was elected to a five-person city council in November 2022, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. City manager Dominic Lazzaretto clarified in a news release that the investigation focused solely on individual conduct and did not involve city finances or staff. He emphasized that the charged conduct ceased after Wang was sworn into office in December 2022. Federal officials have confirmed that Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

In a statement, Wang’s attorneys, Jason Liang and Brian Sun, acknowledged the gravity of the charge, stating that she accepts responsibility for her “past personal mistakes.” They conveyed her apologies for these mistakes, asserting that her “love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver.”

According to her plea agreement, Wang, alongside a colleague named Yaoning “Mike” Sun, worked on behalf of government officials for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from late 2020 through 2022. Their mission was to advance Chinese interests by disseminating pro-PRC propaganda within the U.S. Yaoning “Mike” Sun is currently serving a four-year sentence after pleading guilty to the same charge last October. He was also listed as the treasurer for Wang’s 2022 election campaign.

Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun jointly operated the news website U.S. News Center, which targeted the Chinese American community. They were reportedly instructed by Chinese government officials to publish pro-PRC content on this platform. A notable instance occurred in June 2021, when a government official sent Wang a link to a letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times. This letter, penned by the consul general of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles, refuted reports concerning the persecution, forced labor, and abuse of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province, claiming, “There has never been genocide in Xinjiang or forced labor in the region’s cotton fields or any other sector.” Wang shared this link on her news site within minutes. It is important to note that the U.S. and several other countries have officially declared Beijing’s policies against the Uyghurs to constitute genocide and crimes against humanity.

At the time of these activities, Wang was engaged to Yaoning “Mike” Sun, a relationship that her attorneys state ended in spring 2024. Their statement alluded to “her trust and love for apparently the wrong person who ultimately led her astray.” Furthermore, Wang had also communicated with John Chen, another individual who pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for the Chinese government and received a 20-month prison sentence.

Wang is scheduled to appear in federal court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, with her guilty plea expected in the coming weeks. Arcadia, located approximately 13 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is a city of about 53,000 residents, with a majority Asian population and a high concentration of Chinese residents.