A 65-year-old Southern California man has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for secretly working as an agent of the Chinese government while serving as a campaign advisor to a local politician.
Yaoning “Mike” Sun, a resident of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, received his sentence on Monday after pleading guilty to acting as a covert agent for the People’s Republic of China without notifying U.S. authorities as required by law.
According to court documents, Sun operated in Southern California between 2022 and January 2024, working under the direction of Chinese government officials while serving as campaign manager for a person identified only as “Individual 1” who won election to a city council position in 2022.
“Federal law enforcement will not allow hostile foreign nations to infiltrate the governance of our nation’s political bodies,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The relentlessness of PRC intelligence operations in our country must be met by equal relentlessness on our part to secure, protect, and defend the United States.”
Sun’s activities included operating a purported news website for the local Chinese American community that posted pro-Beijing content at the direction of Chinese officials. He also closely monitored the April 2023 visit of then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to Southern California, reporting her movements directly to Chinese government representatives.
In court, Sun’s defense attorney argued for a lighter sentence, claiming Sun was unaware of the requirement to register as a foreign agent and that his actions themselves weren’t inherently illegal. “None of these acts would be illegal, had Mr. Sun complied with the registration requirement he did not know existed,” his lawyer stated in Sun’s sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence, but U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner ultimately decided on four years.
While court documents don’t name the politician Sun worked with, public records show Sun was listed as campaign treasurer for Arcadia City Council candidate Eileen Wang on a campaign statement filing from February 2022. Arcadia is a city of nearly 60,000 people northeast of Los Angeles with a large Asian population.
After Sun’s arrest in December 2024, Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto stated that Sun had no affiliation with the city and that Wang had not been charged and planned to cooperate with federal officials.
The case against Sun was part of a broader effort during the Biden administration to counter what officials saw as attempts by the Chinese government to cultivate operatives who could influence local U.S. elections and install politicians friendly to Beijing. Sun was accused of conspiring with Chen Jun, who was sentenced in New York to 20 months in prison for similar charges of acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
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