On December 5, 2025, a recording played at the Eastern District Federal Court in Brooklyn showed Sun Wen’s calm and smooth voice, hardly pausing. She clearly knew how to answer each question – what pertained to work, what was personal socializing, what fell under community service, and what was “unrelated to duties.” She was evidently well-versed in the boundaries of each term.
{{newline}}
It wasn’t until investigators presented a photo: In January 2023, at the New Year’s reception hosted by the New York Consulate General, Sun Wen was pictured holding a framed state commendation order next to Consul General Huang Ping.
{{newline}}
“Would the New York State Labor Department award a commendation order to Huang Ping?” investigators asked.
{{newline}}
Sun Wen initially denied. She stated that strictly speaking, the commendation order was not “awarded” by her, but Huang Ping “handed it to her” for a photo opportunity; she attended the event in a personal capacity. However, after repeated questioning, she eventually admitted: the commendation order was indeed obtained by her privately, without authorization, from the Governor’s office; after the photo, she also gave a speech on-site as the “Deputy Director of the New York State Labor Department.”
{{newline}}
“She spoke very confidently,” testified Thomas Collery, Deputy Inspector General of the New York City Investigation Bureau, “but I knew she was lying.”
{{newline}}
Sun Wen was born in Nanjing in 1984 and settled in the United States with her parents in 1990. The timing of her immigration fell within a historical window when the United States implemented special immigration policies for Chinese citizens in the aftermath of the “June 4th Incident”.
{{newline}}
She navigated adeptly between the overseas Chinese community and mainstream politics, assisting community leaders in high school with governmental relations, writing English letters for fundraising, and participating in beauty pageants at 18, where she stated her aspiration was to become a UN goodwill ambassador.
{{newline}}
After completing her studies at Barnard College and Columbia University, she entered New York State’s political circle. In 2008, she assisted in the successful campaign of Meng Zhaowen for State Assembly, subsequently serving as Chief of Staff and establishing close connections with the Chinese Consulate General and multiple overseas Chinese associations.
{{newline}}
In 2012, she was recommended by Meng Zhaowen to join the Cuomo administration, holding positions such as Asian Affairs Director in 2012, Global Trade Manager at Empire Development Corporation in 2015, Deputy Director of Diversity Affairs in 2018, and Deputy Supervisor of the Economic Development Department and Director of Diversity Affairs in 2020. When Huo Chu assumed the governorship in 2021, she was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff, becoming one of the highest-ranking Asian officials in the state government.
{{newline}}
Within the overseas Chinese community, she was hailed as the “pride of the Chinese people”, while within the state government, she was regarded as someone well-versed in ethnic politics and capable of handling “sensitive relationships”. Until September 2022, when she was transferred to the Strategic Business Development Deputy Director of the New York State Labor Department, marking the peak of her 14-year career in public service. However, just half a year later, she was quietly dismissed, with the unauthorized commendation order being the catalyst.
{{newline}}
The court trial revealed that Sun Wen’s role had transcended being merely a “connector between the state government and the Asian community”, and delved into geopolitics. The critical moment of overstepping boundaries could be traced back to at least 2016.
{{newline}}
In 2011, she met Hu Xiao, and the two were married in 2013. At that time, Hu Xiao worked as a salesman at a PC Richards appliance store in New York, with limited income.
{{newline}}
In 2015, Sun Wen transferred to the New York State Empire Development Corporation, engaging in cross-border trade and commerce, delegation visits, and official contacts. In early 2016, Hu Xiao lost his job and applied for the New York State’s Self-Employment Assistance Program (SEAP), attempting to start a business while receiving unemployment benefits. In his application, he stated, “My professional training is limited, but I can speak Chinese, understand Excel, can calculate profits and losses, and have cooperation with freight agents.”
{{newline}}
Without capital, customers, or industry background, in March 2016, Hu Xiao established a one-person company, Foodie Fisherman, deciding to export live lobsters from Boston to Guangzhou, China, with his uncle Chen Xiaoshi, engaged in industrial and trade activities in Guangzhou, as his cooperating partner.
{{newline}}
In April 2016, on a family group chat, Sun Wen bluntly said that the problem with the lobsters lay at Guangzhou Airport – the lobsters dehydrated for over 50 hours while stranded at the airport.
{{newline}}
This failure revealed that the export of live seafood heavily relied on the support of Chinese customs and coordination by local government, with each process’s tight integration directly affecting the survival rate of the seafood.
{{newline}}
On April 16, in a family group chat, Sun Wen mentioned to her mother, “People from the Consulate have come; I’m running late for work.” Six days later, her personal account received nearly $48,000 in wire transfer from a mainland Chinese bank, with the wire note indicating “travel expenses payment”. The prosecution questioned: which American state official would accept “travel expenses” from a foreign bank?
{{newline}}
From then on, Sun Wen began leveraging her connections. The prosecution pointed out that since May 2016, she systematically utilized her official position and relationships with Chinese officials to secure official resources and customs clearance support for her husband’s personal business. She focused on Guangzhou, Jiangsu, and Henan, on one hand facilitating official exchanges between local governments and New York State, arranging Deputy Governor Huo Chu to meet with Guangzhou delegations, and on the other hand directly leveraging political achievements with Chinese officials, requesting economic support, relationships, and market access for Hu Xiao.
{{newline}}
In text messages, she inquired with Sun Bin from the Guangdong Business Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, “Can my husband get in touch with Chairman Chen?” Shortly afterward, the head of the Guangzhou delegation directly called Chen Xiaoshi, Sun Wen arranged for Hu Xiao to meet with Sun Bin during his stay in Guangzhou.
{{newline}}
In May of the same year, Sun Wen traveled to China to participate in a trade exhibition. On May 14, her mother asked in a family chat: “Consul General Zhang Qiyue accompanied you on the same flight, and some leaders from Guangdong were on your flight with you. Do they recognize you?” On May 17, Sun Wen informed her mother that she had dinner with the Chairman of the Jiangsu International Trade Promotion Committee and officials from the Ministry of Commerce, who mentioned they could help arrange a job for her cousin. The next day, she confirmed securing her cousin a 10-year job contract through the Trade Promotion Council.
{{newline}}
Expert witness Julian Ku, professor of public law, testified that the China International Trade Promotion Committee is controlled by the United Front Work Department. This indicates that Sun Wen was profiting for her family during official trips and without the consent of the U.S. government, helping her cousin find employment within the organizational structure of the Chinese Communist Party.
{{newline}}
On May 25, Frank Zhang, President of the East Henan Association in the Eastern United States, forwarded an article to Sun Wen with the title: “American live lobsters served on Henan dining tables”. The details of the article were intriguing: landing at the airport, unloading, transfer to the warehouse, customs inspection, customs release, loading lobsters into trucks, all completed in less than two hours. The key point was that the Zhengzhou Airport Customs and the Henan Commodity Inspection Bureau at Zhengzhou Airport “worked overtime on multiple occasions” for this.
{{newline}}
After reading the article, Sun Wen asked, “Do we have a chance?” Zhang replied, “Of course, there is an opportunity. Zhengzhou plans to build a metropolitan area covering a population of 400 million within two to three years, more than the population of the United States, with tremendous market potential.”
{{newline}}
Zhang invited President Gordon Shi of the Jinan Overseas Exchange Association in Shandong, who hold several important titles, to assist Hu Xiao. They organized business meetings, facilitated introductions to Chinese local government resources, and paved the way for Hu’s business.
{{newline}}
Under continuous Chinese connections, Hu Xiao’s business expanded into Henan and Shandong. The prosecution argued that these series of actions showed Sun Wen was not merely providing scattered “assistance”, but rather using official diplomatic contacts as leverage to obtain institutional support from Chinese local governments.
{{newline}}
The changes happened rapidly – from Hu Xiao receiving unemployment benefits at the beginning of the year, by the end of 2016, he had received a profit of $1.76 million remitted by Chen Xiaoshi, which increased to $5.93 million in 2017 and $6.02 million in 2018. These incomes were not reported on the couple’s tax returns.
{{newline}}
Simultaneously, the prosecution accused Sun Wen of continually “reporting homework” to the Consulate General. On June 10, 2016, she voluntarily reported to Consul Zhang Lin of the Consulate General in New York: “The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York is attempting to contact Deputy Governor Huo Chu during SelectUSA; I am handling this issue.” She added: “Everything has been properly handled.”
{{newline}}
The prosecution pointed out that such reciprocal-style reports repeated – where she dissuaded the Deputy Governor’s office from accepting invitations to Taiwan, prevented the Governor and Deputy Governor from contacting Taiwanese officials, edited official press releases to avoid acknowledging Taiwan, systematically excluding Taiwan from the New York State government’s formal interactions.
{{newline}}
On one occasion, the newly appointed political affairs director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office requested a meeting, Sun Wen deliberately delayed it. After back-and-forth communication, the two eventually did not meet at each other’s office or a high-end restaurant but hastily had lunch at a fast-food chain – clearly not ideal for a quiet conversation. Afterwards, she complained to Consul Zhou Zhiyong of the Consulate General: “He has been bothering me for two months.” Zhou replied: “Hehe. I knew you’d make the right decision.”
{{newline}}
Assistant Federal Prosecutor Solomon pointed out to the jury: “Hehe” was not a joke but a tacit understanding.
{{newline}}
Sun Wen also made sure to commend Consul General Huang Ping: “As you know, I have successfully prevented all official and unofficial meetings between the Governor and Deputy Governor and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. I have kept my relationship with them to a minimum.” In another text message, Consul Shen Xizhi of the Consulate General directly stated: “You’re the most important link between us and Governor Cuomo’s team.”
{{newline}}
By this time, the prosecution argued that Sun Wen was no longer a mere bridge. She was now deciding who could pass the bridge and who had to be blocked.
{{newline}}
In 2017, during her visit to Jiangsu Province, Sun Wen was appointed as the Chair of the Youth Committee of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), which belonged to the United Front system for absorbing overseas Chinese who weren’t members of the Chinese Communist Party but were considered “friendly and reliable”, indicating she had gained a special channel to enter the Chinese Communist regime and interact with high-ranking Party members. Political capital itself was power, which could be transformed into economic benefits.
{{newline}}
In the spring of 2018, Zhang Fuin entrusted her to arrange for a Henan Province Political Consultative Conference delegation to visit the United States and meet with Huo Chu. During the summer and fall of 2019, she again assisted a delegation from the Henan Provincial Office of Foreign Affairs to visit the United States through a false invitation letter, promoting the establishment of “satellite campuses” in cooperation with two New York universities with a fund scale of $1 billion.
{{newline}}
The Chinese side repeatedly requested a return visit from the Governor or Deputy Governor to Henan. After the requests were not met, Sun Wen apologized to Zhang Fuin, saying, “I will do my best. We are all part of a team.”
{{newline}}
The prosecution noted that the efforts from Henan in New York to promote educational projects and political contacts were clear, Zhang Fuin was tasked by the Henan Provincial Government. The details of these projects were not crucial to the trial, but “the key lies in the enormous monetary benefits contained within, aiding in understanding the motivations of the individuals involved.”
{{newline}}
The most dramatic scene unfolded during July 2019 when Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the United States, marking a defining moment for Sun Wen’s self-identity. Two months later, the Chinese specially arranged for her to attend the state banquet commemorating the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, a political honor bestowed upon her.
{{newline}}
Some months before, when Hu Xiao’s lobsters were detained at Guangzhou customs, Sun Wen urgently sought help from pro-Communist overseas leader Liang Guanjun, handing him her husband’s business card: “President Liang, this is my husband’s business card, you have met him in Guangzhou… The customs officer in charge of inspecting the import documents is named… My husband doesn’t understand the procedures of Chinese customs, it would be best to find a competent leader at Baiyun Airport to intervene.”
{{newline}}
Liang Guanjun agreed to help. Sun Wen expressed thanks repeatedly: “You’ve seen everything in the officialdom, I absolutely trust you, extremely grateful! We need you to continue to guide us to avoid future troubles and investigations.”
{{newline}}
Four months later, Liang Guanjun invited her to attend a protest against Tsai Ing-wen. Sun Wen replied, “Thank you, Chairman Liang.”
{{newline}}
During this period, an incident occurred where presiding judge Brian Cogan, based on procedural considerations, prohibited the prosecution from drawing causal inferences between Sun Wen’s lobster request to Liang Guanjun and the invitation to protest. However, after the jury retired, Judge Cogan jokingly remarked to those in the courtroom, “It’s like a line from ‘The Godfather’ – ‘One day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.'”
{{newline}}
Shortly before President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to New York in July 2019, the Economic and Cultural Office sent the dinner invitation only to Sun Wen, causing the invitation not to enter the formal New York State government process. Sun Wen promptly forwarded the invitation to the Consulate General, emphasizing “I have already stopped it” and personally replied to reject the office without State Governor Huo Chu and Mayor attendance, citing scheduling conflicts. She then confirmed with Consul General Huang Ping that neither the Governor nor the Mayor would be present, saying, “If there is any need, please let me know.”
{{newline}}
On the evening of the banquet, Sun Wen did not appear at official events but stood alongside protesters outside the hotel, standing shoulder to shoulder with Liang Guanjun. Video footage showed that when Liang Guanjun led the crowd in chanting “Down with Taiwan, Down with Tsai Ing-wen,” and “Get out of New York,” she nodded and smiled.
{{newline}}
“Do you know who went? Sun Wen.” Zhang Fuin said that day in chat to his deputy Sydney Li.
{{newline}}
Sydney Li served as the Vice President of the Henan Association in the United States and was also employed by Congressional Member Meng Zhaowen’s office as a community director, a position mentioned several times in the WeChat communications presented in court.
{{newline}}
Li and Zhang operated in American politics while reporting Sun Wen’s role to Chinese officials, aiding in providing speeches, reviewing drafts, arranging itineraries, and meetings. On March 14, 2017, Zhang shared a conversation with the “Director Wang” of the Chinese office in a WeChat group. The content revealed that Sun Wen would be speaking at the “Zhengzhou Pilot Free Trade Zone Development Forum” on how overseas Chinese can assist in the development of the free trade zone, with the need for approval from Henan provincial leaders. Director Wang urged the quick submission of the speech draft. Zhang suggested tweaking the topic to have Sun Wen speak on Sino-US trade relations and cooperation with New York State for her role as Asian representative to the New York Governor and Director of the External Affairs Office.
{{newline}}
Sun Wen was portrayed as the “New York spokesperson” on Sino-US economic and trade issues, yet she wasn’t authorized to represent New York State.
{{newline}}
In April 2019, Sydney Li and Zhang Fuin, carrying a congratulatory letter signed by Meng Zhaowen for Huo Chu, visited Henan, delivering it to the Provincial United Front Department—a request to facilitate Huo’s visit to Henan. On November 5, 2019, after learning that Huo Chu’s trip was canceled, Sydney Li commented, “He doesn’t understand politics. Missed an opportunity!”
{{newline}}
FBI agent Garrett Igo in 2020 had warned Sun Wen, fearing that she was being targeted for influence operations by the Chinese government. However, she did not restrain herself. The prosecution argued that during the height of the pandemic, she directed the state government’s PPE procurement contract towards a Chinese company owned by relatives, openly stating that “her loyalty can be bought and sold, the Chinese government is willing to pay her to serve.” In the concluding statement, in a simple way, the prosecution explained to the jury how Beijing used overseas organizations, local associations, and so-called “friendly individuals” to establish informal channels influencing American politics.
{{newline}}
Chinese economic sociologist He Qingliang pointed out last year in an article that the Sun Wen case garnered high attention not just due to personal corruption or procedural violations but the role she represented – an era’s end. The space for institutional arbitrage in Sino-US relations was rapidly shrinking, and the once tacitly approved, even encouraged, “bilateral operations” were being redefined as risks in themselves.
{{newline}}
The feast has ended, leaving behind those who couldn’t exit in time.