BY JEFF SELDIN
VOA News
A former senior aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul was charged Tuesday with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government.
Linda Sun, Hochul's former deputy chief of staff, is being charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, federa
BY JEFF SELDIN
VOA News
A former senior aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul was charged Tuesday with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government.
Linda Sun, Hochul's former deputy chief of staff, is being charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, federal prosecutors said in a statement released Tuesday.
Sun was hired by New York state's Executive Chamber more than 10 years ago and was terminated in March 2023 when her alleged illegal activities were discovered. She held positions in several agencies during that time.
Sun is alleged to have acted on behalf of the government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party while working for the New York state government.
Sun "never registered as a foreign agent," federal prosecutors said, and "actively concealed that she took actions at the order, request or direction of PRC government and the CCP representatives."
Sun and her husband, co-defendant Chris Hu, were arrested at their Long Island home Tuesday before pleading not guilty during their arraignment in Brooklyn federal court in the afternoon.
Hu faces money laundering charges in addition to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said that while Sun worked for Hochul in the deputy chief of staff capacity, she and her husband "actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP."
"The illicit scheme enriched the defendant's family to the tune of millions of dollars," Peace said.
While allegedly working for both the New York state government and China, Sun was successful in preventing Taiwanese government officials access to high-level New York officials said.
Sun is also reported to have changed the messaging of high-level New York state officials about issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP. She also allegedly obtained official New York state proclamations for PRC government officials without proper authorization.
Other charges against Sun include an attempt to facilitate a high-level New York state politician's trip to China and scheduling meetings for visiting Chinese government delegations with New York state government officials.
Sun and Hu received significant economic rewards by working for China, including facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions for Hu's China-based business activities, travel benefits, the promotion of a close family friend's business and employment for Sun's cousin in China. Prosecutors said the benefits also included Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a Chinese government official's personal chef that were given to Sun's parents.
Sun and her husband "laundered millions of dollars for the foreign country and used the monetary benefits of this scheme to buy luxury vehicles and million-dollar properties here in New York," said Thomas M. Fattorusso, special agent in charge of criminal investigations at the Internal Revenue Service in New York.
With their laundered money, the couple purchased a $4.1 million house on Long Island, a $2.1 million condominium in Honolulu, Hawaii, and several expensive cars, including a 2024 Ferrari.
Sun never reported any of the benefits she received from China, as was required as a New York state government employee.
Meanwhile, Hu unlawfully laundered money through bank accounts he opened in a relative's name but were entirely for Hu's exclusive use, prosecutors said. In addition, Hu unlawfully used an image of the relative's driver's license to open the accounts.
PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is
DETROIT (CCN) — The Detroit Free Press reported today (Friday, July 12, 2024) that UAW President Shawn Fain has been accused of steering money to benefit his fiancee and her sister.
A court filing in federal court on Wednesday was first reported by the Detroit News. It was a motion to demand that UAW leadership release various documents re
DETROIT (CCN) — The Detroit Free Press reported today (Friday, July 12, 2024) that UAW President Shawn Fain has been accused of steering money to benefit his fiancee and her sister.
A court filing in federal court on Wednesday was first reported by the Detroit News. It was a motion to demand that UAW leadership release various documents related to an investigation by court-appointed monitor Neil Barofsky. He was assigned by the government after a scandal resulted in 15 previous UAW leaders going to prison for stealing money of UAW members.
Media reports had previously reported that Barofsky was looking into allegations that a vice president at the international office in Detroit had misused funds and that a regional director had embezzled union funds.
The latest report by the Free Press today says Fain ordered a vice president to take actions that would benefit his fiancée and her sister, among other reasons, according to the court filing. Barofsky wants the court to confirm his authority to get access to records immediately and to compel UAW leadership to produce documents he wants immediately.
Fain has so far made no comment to the media.
PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Neil Barofsky who is an independent monitor appointed by the court to oversee UAW funds after a recent scandal that sent 15 union leaders to prison for stealing funds of UAW members.
BY MIKE KILLBREATH
CCN Executive Editor
DETROIT (CCN) — The weekend magic continued Sunday (July 14, 2024) for the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. They used a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second day in a row.
Down 3-1, Sunday's comeback began with a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th by
BY MIKE KILLBREATH
CCN Executive Editor
DETROIT (CCN) — The weekend magic continued Sunday (July 14, 2024) for the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. They used a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second day in a row.
Down 3-1, Sunday's comeback began with a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th by Zack McKinstry. "It was a curveball up in the zone and I was able to get a barrel to it," the ex-Central Michigan star told media members afterward. "I saw it going toward the line and I was like, 'Stay fair, stay fair.' Then it hit the ground and I was like, 'Oh yeah, let's go,' and I turned on the burners."
An RBI single by rookie pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy tied it at 3-3, before back-to-back bunts were botched by the Dodgers. An errant throw over their third baseman's head into left field resulted in Malloy trotting in with the walk-off winning run.
Malloy and Ryan Vilade were both safe when the Dodgers booted a bunt by Vilade. Then Wenceel Perez dropped another bunt to try to move Malloy to third when the bad throw came by L.A.
Vilade, recently called up from Triple-A Toledo, was 2-for-3 on the day besides the sacrifice bunt.
Detroit's come-from-behind rally on Saturday to beat the Dodgers 11-9 came after they were down by 5 runs going into the bottom of the 9th. They tied it at 9-9 on Colt Keith's fifth home run in the last 10 games, then won it in the bottom of the 10th on the first big league homer by Gio Urshela.
The TIgers also treated their fans to an exciting game on Friday night when a sellout crowd of 42,060 fans packed Comerica Park, and were disappointed when superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani's RBI double in the 9th gave the Dodgers a 4-3 victory.
Another sellout crowd watched Detroit's dramatic rally on Saturday before more than 35,000 turned out on Sunday.
The Tigers climbed to 24,390 fans per game with the big crowds this weekend to move up to No. 21 in MLB attendance average. They went into the weekend at just over 20,000 fans per game to rank next to last in the entire MLB — ahead of only the Miami Marlins.
Sunday marked the 8th time in the last 10 games that the Tigers won. Taking 2-out-of-3 over the National League's West Division leading Dodgers at Comerica Park followed taking 3-out-of-4 from the American League's Central Division leading Cleveland Guardians in Detroit. They started their hot streak with a 3-game sweep last weekend over the Reds in Cincinnati.
The Tigers got a great bullpen performance on Sunday after starter Beau Bridges surrendered all 3 runs by the Dodgers in the first inning.
Five Tigers combined to toss shut-out ball the rest of the way — highlighted by Kenta Maeda going 3 2/3 innings and giving up only one hit.
The Tigers are now 47-50 going into the break for Tuesday's All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas.
The Tigers are 12 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central and within 5 games of the third-place Royals and 7 1/2 behind the second-place Twins.
PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Zack McKinstry who ripped a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th inning to begin Detroit's rally to win again in come-from-behind fashion via a walk-off winner.
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