A Southern California mayor has been charged with operating as an illegal foreign agent on behalf of the Chinese government and resigned from her post, authorities announced.
Eileen Wang, 58, who has been mayor of the Los Angeles County suburb of Arcadia since February, agreed to plead guilty to one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a news release on May 11.
In a plea agreement, Wang admitted to working with another man from Chino Hills, 65-year-old Yaoning “Mike” Sun, to promote "propaganda" favorable to the People's Republic of China within the United States, according to the release. Sun is currently serving four years in prison after pleading guilty to the same charge in October 2025.
"Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.
Between late 2020 and 2022, the two operated a website called U.S. News Site, which purported to serve the area's Chinese American community, prosecutors said. Wang and Sun posted content favorable to the Chinese government on the site, at the direction of government operatives, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
