A Southern California mayor has resigned after agreeing to plead guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China.
Eileen Wang, 58, who served as mayor of the Los Angeles County suburb of Arcadia since February, faces one count of operating illegally on behalf of the Chinese government, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced May 11. Details.
Wang admitted working with Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, from Chino Hills, to spread pro-China “propaganda” in the US. Sun, already serving four years in prison after his October 2025 guilty plea, collaborated with her on the scheme.
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.
From late 2020 to 2022, the pair ran U.S. News Site, a website targeting the local Chinese American community. At the direction of Chinese operatives, they posted favorable content.
Prosecutors highlighted a June 2021 incident: A Chinese official sent pre-written articles via messaging app, including one Wang published on her site and as a Los Angeles Times letter denying Xinjiang genocide claims.
In August 2021, Wang revised the piece per the official’s request, shared a link showing 15,000+ views, and got a “Great!” reply. She responded, “Thank you leader,” per the release.
Another man Wang communicated with, John Chen, was also sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as an unregistered agent and bribing an Internal Revenue Service agent, prosecutors said.
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said. “It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all, but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed.”
Arcadia’s manager, Dominic Lazzaretto, said in a statement that Wang resigned and the city will select a new mayor at its next City Council meeting. Wang was sworn in to the City Council in December 2022. The mayor is selected on a rotating basis from the five-person body, giving each member an opportunity to serve as mayor for a nine-and-a-half-month period during their four-year term on the council.
Arcadia, about 15 miles northeast from downtown Los Angeles, is a city of about 54,000 residents with a population that is about 59% Asian-American, according to the U.S. Census.