【Epoch Times August 20, 2026】A Chinese citizen in Massachusetts, United States has been charged with voter fraud, and the shocking details behind the incident have quickly spread on the internet, revealing a plot more thrilling than fiction. A dispute between a Chinese landlord and tenant escalated to enmity, with the tenant resentful over the landlord calling the police and leading to the tenant’s detention and record, prompting retaliatory actions. Apart from impersonating a 70-year-old landlord couple to apply for voluntarily giving up green cards, which nearly led to their deportation at the airport, the tenant went as far as illegally voting in the US using the landlord’s name and filing false claims.
According to the criminal indictment released by the US Department of Justice on Wednesday, 33-year-old Chinese citizen Yupeng Sun is accused of impersonating a lawful permanent resident in Malden, Massachusetts under the identity of his former landlord (identified as J.L.) to register as a voter and cast a ballot.
The federal government disclosed that Sun is suspected of completing online voter registration using the landlord’s name in October 2024 and then early voting at Malden City Hall by the end of the same month.
As the landlord was born in 1956 and is a Chinese citizen, not a US citizen, he was ineligible for voter registration and voting rights. Upon verification, Sun was charged with false voter registration and fraudulent voting, making his first court appearance on Wednesday at the Boston Federal Court.
The indictment states that Sun, also a Chinese citizen born in Shaanxi Province, entered the US on a B-2 tourist visa on September 22, 2020, which expired on March 21, 2021. He applied for a U visa on February 11, 2022, and currently holds deferred action status from deportation.
This bizarre voter fraud case stems from the landlord-tenant dispute.
Sun rented the former landlord’s residence in Malden City from January 2021 to May 2023. On May 27, 2023, Sun was arrested for allegedly assaulting the landlord’s adult daughter; a restraining order was issued against him three days later. The related criminal charges were dropped in September 2024, with the reason for dismissal not specified in the indictment.
A day after the restraining order, on May 31, 2023, Sun filed a civil lawsuit against the landlord’s daughter, claiming illegal eviction.
In July of that year, the landlord’s daughter reported to the police that the tires of two cars parked in front of the residence were all punctured. She suspected Sun as the perpetrator because the landlord had seen him passing by the residence that morning, and there were no other damaged vehicles nearby. The affidavit did not mention any charges or convictions against Sun related to the tire incident.
The dispute later extended to the immigration status of the landlord couple.
On April 8, 2024, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processed and approved two I-407 forms submitted in the names of the former landlord and his wife, indicating a “Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status”.
The forms included their names, dates of birth, alien registration numbers, and copies of their green cards, claiming that the green cards were lost and unable to be returned.
In June of the same year, when the landlord couple returned from overseas travel to Boston’s Logan International Airport, they were detained and placed into deportation procedures by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after the system showed they had abandoned their permanent resident status. Their green cards were confiscated and they underwent a second inspection at the airport.
The landlord couple subsequently stated through their lawyer to the immigration court that the two I-407 forms were not signed or authorized by them, rather their former tenant stole and misused their personal information for retaliation.
In a January 2026 immigration court hearing, the couple testified under oath that Sun had helped them fill out medical insurance application forms in English, potentially exposing their personal information to him; they also claimed that their relationship with Sun deteriorated after he moved out. A certified expert in court document authentication testified that handwriting analysis indicated the landlord couple did not sign the I-407 forms. The immigration judge accepted their testimony and ordered the restoration of their lawful permanent resident status.
At that time, Sun did not halt his actions. According to the indictment, around October 10, 2024, someone used the landlord’s name, former address, and Massachusetts driver’s license number to register online as a voter; on October 31, that person went to Malden City Hall to cast an early vote, claiming to be the landlord and signing the landlord’s name on the early voting envelope.
The Massachusetts voter registration system indicated that the ballot was accepted and counted in the 2024 presidential election.
When interviewed by law enforcement officers in June 2026, the landlord denied registering or participating in the 2024 presidential election; the landlord’s daughter believed that Sun may have registered and voted in the landlord’s name as retaliation for her prior arrest involvement.
The Department of Homeland Security received multiple anonymous tips in April 2026, alleging that the landlord, a non-citizen permanent resident, had illegally voted in the 2024 presidential election. Two reports were sent around April 6 to the USCIS Boston office and HSI, with another sent around May 26 to the USCIS headquarters. Investigators revealed that postal records showed someone tracked the anonymous letters on May 4 and 5; the IP address was located in Sun’s residence in Andover and matched an IP address used by an iPad associated with Sun’s Apple account.
On July 23, 2026, investigators conducted a recorded interview with Sun outside his residence in Andover.
When asked if he still harbored resentment towards the landlord’s daughter, he responded affirmatively, stating he had “a lot, a lot” of grievances. When questioned about his dissatisfaction with the landlord couple, he replied, “Hate them both.” Sun claimed that the landlord couple “treated me very badly” and cited this mistreatment as the reason he immediately moved out after his arrest.
Upon being shown the anonymous complaints sent to the Department of Homeland Security, Sun admitted to sending them, reporting the landlord for voting.
Seeing the screenshot of the landlord’s voter registration information, Sun confessed, “To be honest, I registered.”
Regarding the copy of the envelope used for early voting, he acknowledged, “I voted using his name.”
When presented with evidence of the I-407 form submitted under the landlord’s name, Sun admitted to forging the landlord’s signature.
“I signed it,” he stated.
Approximately two hours after the investigation concluded, Sun sent two messages to one of the investigators. In the first message, he wrote, “I know; I am likely to be prosecuted.”
Shortly after, in his second message, he said, “I’ve been mistreated by the landlord,” reiterating that it was the landlord’s daughter that led to his wrongful arrest and prosecution.