An absolutely massive press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that was promulgated on February 10 revealed that a Chinese migrant living in California had been caught and convicted of working as an illegal agent for the People’s Republic of China. Importantly, the man caught was a political operative who was engaged to and worked for a longtime California Democratic politician, who is now the Democratic Mayor of Arcadia, California.
For reference, the man involved in the horrible scandal is Yaoning Sun, who went by “Mike”. He managed to work his way into the graces of Eileen Wang, a local-level Democratic politician in California, while working as a political operative. He then got closer and closer to her as she went from a city council member to the Mayor of Arcadia, and the two got engaged. Then he was caught being a PRC operative.
Announcing his sentencing in its February 10 press release, the DOJ said, “Yesterday, a San Bernardino County man, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner for the Central District of California to 48 months in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including while serving as the campaign advisor for a political candidate who was elected to the city council of a Southern California city. Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.”
Continuing, the DOJ revealed that Sun was covertly acting as a pro-PRC political agent in California, saying, “According to court documents, from at least 2022 to January 2024, Sun knowingly acted within the United States as an agent of the PRC and officials of its government – without notifying the Attorney General, as required by U.S. law.”
It added, noting what he did, “At the direction and control of PRC government officials, Sun coordinated with U.S.-based individuals to promote the PRC’s interests by, among other things, ‘orchestrat[ing]’ a team to help elect a politician identified in court documents as ‘Individual 1’ to political office and promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States.”
The Los Angeles Times, reporting on the scandal, reported that “Individual 1” is Wang, the mayor and fiancée, saying, “Two sources familiar with the investigation identified Wang as Individual 1. The complaint described Sun as Individual 1’s campaign manager and business partner and said the address Sun had registered with the DMV was a home owned by Individual 1.”
Commenting on the espionage and what Sun did, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said, in a statement released as part of the press release, “For years, Sun received and executed taskings from Chinese government officials, distorted our public discourse by disseminating Chinese propaganda, and surveilled groups in the United States that China viewed as threatening its interests as part of a campaign of intimidation.”
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Also chiming in was Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, who noted, “When Americans vote for elected officials, they expect them to represent the interests of their constituents – not those of a foreign adversary like the Chinese government.”
Continuing, Rozhavsky explained, “By exploiting his position as a campaign advisor, Yaoning Sun attempted to undermine our political processes and democratic institutions for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party. This sentencing underscores the unwavering commitment of the FBI and our partners to defending the homeland and holding accountable anyone who tries to subvert the will of American voters at the behest of our adversaries.”
Watch JD Vance sound off on Tim Walz’s ties to the PRC: