Arcadia mayor agrees to plead guilty to acting as agent for China
The mayor of Arcadia, Eileen Wang, faces 10 years in federal prison after agreeing to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China on Monday.
The Department of Justice said Wang admitted in her plea agreement to working with her former fiancé, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, who was also one of her campaign staffers, to push pro-Chinese propaganda through the website U.S. News Center.
Sun was sentenced to four years in prison for a similar charge earlier this year.
"All Americans should be alarmed to learn an elected official was brazenly spreading propaganda on behalf of the Chinese government," said Patrick Grandy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. "The FBI is dedicated to rooting out those illegally acting as agents of a foreign government as they do the bidding of America's adversaries."
Prior to her plea agreement, Wang refused to comment on her former fiancé's sentence. Her attorneys sent a statement apologizing after she resigned as Arcadia's mayor and entered her plea.
"Events in Ms. Wang's personal life — including her trust and love for apparently the wrong person, who ultimately led her astray — require her to step away from public service," her attorneys wrote.
Investigators said Wang and Sun posted pro-China content on their website. The content included pre-written articles that were sent to a WeChat thread, an encrypted messaging app, which Wang shared with several other people, according to the DOJ.
In their announcement of the charge, prosecutors pointed to an exchange between Wang and a Chinese official from August 2021.
The DOJ said the Chinese official requested Wang make changes to an article. After she made the edits, the official messaged Wang, "Great!" to which she replied with "Thank you leader," according to the Justice Department.
"By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. "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.
Prosecutors provided another example from 2021 in which Wang communicated with John Chen, 71. Investigators said Chen was a high-level member of China's intelligence services who regularly attended elite Chinese Communist Party events and personally met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the November 2021 exchange, Wang asked Chen to post an article from her website and wrote, "This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send," according to the DOJ.
Chen was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to similar charges in 2024.
Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in 2022. Councilmembers select the mayor on a rotating basis. Wang began her term as mayor in February 2026.
Arcadia said an internal review showed that city finances, staff or decision-making processes were not involved in the case.
Councilmember Sharon Kwan described the scandal as a sad moment in the city's history.
"Unfortunately, I think this has damaged public confidence, but I also believe Arcadia is resilient," Kwan said. "We can move forward by being honest, transparent and committed to accountability."