New York State Governor’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Linda Sun and her husband Chris Hu were involved in a case of foreign agents, bribery, and money laundering. The trial at the Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday entered its fourth day on November 18th. The hearing that day focused on three main aspects: firstly, the testimony of the director of the New York State Government Ethics Committee, explaining the gift regulations and conflict of interest requirements for state government officials; secondly, Linda Sun’s mother, Sun Meiping, appeared in court, emphasizing the bank accounts jointly opened with her daughter and son-in-law and the suspected money laundering process; thirdly, Jay Yang, the General Manager of Signature Bank, explained the process of opening joint accounts and the crucial $1.6 million wire transfer.
The New York State Ethics and Lobbying Commission (JCOPE) Ethics Director and Deputy Counsel Michael Sandy testified that all state government employees must undergo ethics and conflict of interest training (upon hiring and every three years thereafter). Linda Sun completed the training in 2018, 2021, and 2024. The regulations are mainly based on the New York State Public Officers Law.
The prosecution raised questions about various potential violations, including: receiving valuable gifts from the same source multiple times, free hotel stays and travel expenses, VIP tickets, taking on external roles that conflict with official duties (such as Chair of the Youth Committee of the China Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association), arranging jobs outside of New York State for relatives, etc. Sandy pointed out that these situations could constitute conflicts of interest or illegal activities.
The defense attempted to prove that some gifts could be exempted under specific rules and emphasized that a “second cousin” does not fall under the category of immediate family members that need to be reported.
Sun Meiping testified that she immigrated to the United States from Nanjing in 1990 with her then 6-year-old daughter Linda Sun and used to work in a garment factory earning around $40,000 annually. Her ex-husband, Sun Guoxian, operated a laundry shop with an income of about $60,000. Both of them had limited English proficiency.
She mentioned that in April 2020, under the arrangement of her son-in-law Chris Hu, she opened a joint account at Signature Bank, but she never used the account, gave any wire transfer instructions, or corresponded with the bank via email. Despite this, she still had to report the income generated by that account on her tax returns. She stated that during the pandemic, Chris Hu had her “electronically sign” on the computer without her knowledge of the purpose of opening the account. She later found out that her daughter and son-in-law intended to buy a house for her but it was never realized.
The prosecution played a bank call recording: when the bank called to confirm the $1.6 million wire transfer, Jay Yang called Chris Hu inquiring if “Sun Meiping was online” and a woman claiming to be Sun Meiping answered the call. After listening to the recording in court, Sun Meiping stated that the voice was not hers but her daughter Linda Sun’s.
This recording became a crucial lead as evidence of “Linda Sun impersonating her mother to verify a substantial wire transfer”.
According to the testimony of Jay Yang, the General Manager of Signature Bank, he got acquainted with Chris Hu through Linda Sun’s cousin Hui Hua (Henry Hua). Hui Hua operated a garment factory named Canstar in China, producing personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic; Jay Yang and Hui Hua both hailed from Nanjing and had been friends for many years.
Chris Hu opened multiple accounts at Signature Bank, including personal accounts for himself and his wife and a business account for his company Golden Capital. Shortly after Chris Hu opened the business account on April 1, 2020, he requested to open an account for his mother-in-law on April 28, indicating he wanted to “control this account.” The account was opened on April 29, and on June 18, Chris Hu was added as the second account holder, making it a joint account between him and Sun Meiping.
On July 11, Canstar transferred $1.6 million to Sun Meiping’s account, and the funds were quickly transferred to Golden Capital under Chris Hu’s complete control. After the transfer, Hui Hua emailed Chris Hu demanding an explanation for the wire transfer to the bank.
When asked by the bank about the business relationship between Canstar and Sun Meiping, Chris Hu replied that the transfer was for “profit sharing” and “commission bonuses,” as Sun Meiping (68 at the time) was a “sales representative” for the company, and the money was intended for commercial investment or real estate purchase. However, Sun Meiping testified that she had no knowledge of this and was never involved in any transactions.
Further evidence indicated that in 2021, Chris Hu and Jay Yang discussed purchasing a approximately $2.1 million ocean-view apartment in Honolulu, Hawaii through Golden Capital.
In conclusion, the testimonies in court yesterday outlined the prosecution’s allegations: Linda Sun violated state government ethical regulations by accepting improper gifts and benefits for an extended period; Chris Hu used his mother-in-law’s name to open accounts and engage in money laundering; during the $1.6 million transfer, the bank requested confirmation from “Sun Meiping” personally, but it was Linda Sun who responded, indicating that the account might have been used to conceal fund flow.
The defense argued that the gifts in question had exceptions; the joint account opening was reasonable (aimed at buying a house for the mother-in-law); Chris Hu openly expressed his desire to control the account from start to finish, without any attempt to hide it; and raised doubts about the banking executive’s failure to challenge Chris Hu’s claim that Sun Meiping was a “sales representative” even though she was retired.