LA county mayor's campaign advisor convicted of spying for China, sentenced to 4 years in prison

A man with ties to the mayor of a Los Angeles County city has been sentenced to four years in prison for "acting as an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China."

The Department of Justice announced on February 10 that 65-year-old Yaoning “Mike” Sun, of Chino Hills, California had been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison, saying that Sun had acted as an illegal agent "while serving as the campaign advisor for a political candidate who was elected to the city council of a Southern California city." 

The candidate, identified only as "Individual 1" by the Department of Justice, has been named as Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang in multiple reports. Wang and Sun were engaged for a time, and Sun served as a campaign advisor for Wang’s 2022 campaign for Arcadia City Council, with Wang ultimately winning that November’s election. 

Per CBS News, Wang had commented on her relationship with Sun during a December 2022 council meeting, "To my fiancé, Mike Sun, who walked streets with me every single day, who is a real leader of me." After Sun was charged, Wang claimed in September 2025, "No. 1, he's not my fiancé. Whoever wants to say he's my former fiancé, please prove it."

The DOJ said that between 2022 and early 2024, Sun "knowingly acted within the United States as an agent of the PRC and officials of its government – without notifying the Attorney General, as required by US law."

Sun, who pleaded guilty in October 2025, worked "At the direction and control of PRC government officials" to coordinate "with US-based individuals to promote the PRC’s interests by, among other things, 'orchestrat[ing]' a team to help elect a politician identified in court documents as 'Individual 1’ to political office and promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States."

The DOJ said that during the April 2023 visit of then-President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen to Southern California, Sun closely surveilled her and reported "directly to PRC officials on her movements."

Between 2020 and 2023, "Sun and Individual 1 worked together to operate a purported news website for the local Chinese American community." Per the New York Post, Sun and Wang ran a media site called US News Center. 

Sun drafted a report for PRC officials in February 2023 seeking "additional money and taskings" from the PRC government. The report noted Sun’s experience in the People’s Liberation Army, and said that Sun had worked in the US to lead "delegations of US dignitaries and cultural workers to China," "persist in resisting any hostile forces that undermine the friendship of US-China relations, and Chinese secessionist forces," and, "most of all, during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, I orchestrated and organized my team to win the election for city council" for Individual 1, whom Sun called a "new political star."

Wang has not been charged in the case, and sources told the New York Post that there is no evidence Wang knew about Sun’s activities with the PRC.  

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said, "For years, Sun received and executed taskings from Chinese government officials, distorted our public discourse by disseminating Chinese propaganda, and surveilled groups in the United States that China viewed as threatening its interests as part of a campaign of intimidation. His conduct represents a brazen violation of our national sovereignty. This sentence reflects our commitment to prosecuting those who would extend the authoritarian reach of the Chinese government on U.S. soil."