Arcadia mayor Eileen Wang has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, the Department of Justice said Monday (May 11). She has agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge, the department added in a statement. Wang resigned from her post as mayor on Monday, according to the Arcadia City Council’s website. The Justice Department said Wang and an accomplice, Yaoning Sun, promoted pro-Chinese propaganda through a website they operated called US News Center serving the local Chinese American community. Sun pleaded guilty in 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and is serving a four-year prison sentence. This comes just before US President Donald Trump’s Beijing visit and meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Wang, a Democrat, was elected to the Arcadia City Council on a Democratic Party ticket in November 2022. Arcadia is an independent city located in Los Angeles County, California.
In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that Wang has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The statement claimed that from late 2020 through 2022, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun worked at the direction and control of PRC government officials. They allegedly coordinated with US-based individuals to promote the PRC’s interests by, among other things, promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States. It further said that they received and executed directives from PRC government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website. Acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison in the United States.
Roman Rozhavsky, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said in a statement: “By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government. 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.”
Meanwhile, Arcadia city officials distanced themselves from Wang’s conduct. City manager Dominic Lazzaretto said that the investigation concerns “individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Wang was sworn into office in December 2022.” He confirmed that no city finances or staff were involved in Wang’s activities. (WION)