China wants complete control of their own society. And they want control of ours.
The Rebel Patient™ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Are relationships with all from China okay if you are in a position of power and influence?
Emphases are mine.
Defendant Engaged in Political Activities in the Interests of the CCP and With Her Co-Defendant Husband Conspired to Launder the Proceeds of Their Unlawful Activities
BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, an indictment was unsealed charging Linda Sun with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy. Sun is alleged to have acted on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”) and the Chinese Communist Party (the “CCP”). Sun’s husband and co-defendant Chris Hu was also charged with money laundering conspiracy, as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.
Sun and Hu were arrested this morning and are scheduled to be arraigned later today before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Christie M. Curtis, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Thomas M. Fattorusso, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announced the prosecution.
“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars. Our Office will act decisively to prosecute those who serve as undisclosed agents of a foreign government.”
Mr. Peace expressed his appreciation to the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, the New York State Office of the Inspector General, the New York State Police and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) for their work on the case. He also thanked the New York State Executive Chamber for its cooperation with the investigation.
“As alleged in the indictment, Linda Sun, a former New York State government employee, acted as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Christopher Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain. Sun wielded her position of influence among executives to covertly promote PRC and CCP agendas, directly threatening our country’s national security. The FBI is committed to protect the American people from any threat actors who seek to influence officials at the direction of foreign entities,” stated FBI Acting Assistant Director Curtis.
“Sun is alleged to be an undisclosed agent of the PRC and CCP, using Chinese money and her influence within the state of New York to benefit the Chinese government. Sun and her husband then laundered millions of dollars for the foreign country and used the monetary benefits of this scheme to buy luxury vehicles and million dollars properties here in New York,” Thomas M. Fattorusso, Special Agent in Charge of IRS CI New York. “It is with the unwavering determination of federal law enforcement to root-out foreign agents and their schemes that Sun and Hu will now face justice for their criminal acts.”
As alleged in the indictment, while working for the New York State government – including in high-ranking posts in the Executive Chamber of the New York State government and in multiple state agencies – Sun also acted as an undisclosed agent of the PRC and the CCP. Acting at the request of PRC government officials and the CCP representatives, Sun engaged in numerous political activities in the interests of the PRC and the CCP, including blocking representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to high-level New York State officers; changing high-level New York State officers’ messaging regarding issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP; obtaining official New York State proclamations for PRC government representatives without proper authorization; attempting to facilitate a trip to the PRC by a high-level New York State politician; and arranging meetings for visiting delegations from the PRC government with New York State government officials.
Sun also repeatedly violated internal rules and protocols within the New York State government to provide improper benefits to PRC and the CCP representatives, including by providing unauthorized invitation letters from the office of high-level New York State officers that were used to facilitate travel by PRC government officials into the United States for meetings with New York State government officials. Sun’s unauthorized invitation letters for the PRC government delegation constituted false statements made in connection with immigration documents and induced the foreign citizens into unlawfully entering the United States.
Sun never registered as a foreign agent with the Attorney General, and in fact actively concealed that she took actions at the order, request, or direction of PRC government and the CCP representatives.
In return for these and other actions, Sun received substantial economic and other benefits from representatives of the PRC government and the CCP, including the facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions for the PRC-based business activities of Hu; travel benefits; tickets to events; promotion of a close family friend’s business; employment for Sun’s cousin in the PRC; and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a PRC government official’s personal chef that were delivered to the residence of Sun’s parents. Sun and Hu laundered the monetary proceeds of this scheme to purchase, among other items, real estate property in Manhasset, New York currently valued at $4.1 million, a condominium in Honolulu, Hawaii currently valued at $2.1 million, and various luxury automobiles, including a 2024 Ferrari. Sun never disclosed any benefits she received from representatives of the PRC government and the CCP to the New York State government, as she was required to do as a New York State government employee.
Hu also laundered unlawful proceeds through bank accounts opened in the name of a close relative but that were actually for Hu’s exclusive use. To open these accounts, Hu unlawfully used an image of the relative’s driver’s license.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security & Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon and Robert Pollack are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Trial Attorney Scott Claffee from the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Litigation Analyst Mary Clare McMahon. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Mantell of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendants:
LINDA SUN Age: 41 Manhasset, New York
CHRIS HU Age: 40 Manhasset, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-346 (BMC)
Contact
John Marzulli Danielle Blustein Hass U.S. Attorney's Office (718) 254-6323
The NY Post Exposes China “Communist Party spies” in Top US Firms
China’s government has positioned itself to embed “Communist Party spies” at Microsoft and other US companies that do business in the country — and further expose them to theft of trade secrets, employee poaching and even scary intimidation tactics, The Post has learned.
A new version of Beijing’s “company law” that took effect July 1 — a clampdown that has seen scant coverage in the Western press, according to experts — requires multinational firms with more than 300 workers in the country to appoint an “employee representative” to their China affiliate’s board of directors.
Sources tell The Post that the “representatives” are almost certain to be in regular contact with Chinese authorities — if not outright members of the Chinese Communist Party. That, in turn, would give Beijing a direct line into the sensitive internal workings of American firms.
The new rules, which can alternatively require that companies adopt a local supervisory board for workers, could also give the CCP frightening tools to exert control over US companies’ employees, according to US officials.
“They can tell a [Chinese intelligence] agent, ‘This is the person you need to talk to. If you want to coerce them, here’s who they are,’” a House aide briefed on the law told The Post. “’I have access to employee data. This is their wife. This is where they live. This is where the kid goes to school.’”
Corporate spies for Beijing could likewise seek to infiltrate confidential meetings or even facilitate intellectual property theft by telling an employee to put a flash drive into a particular computer, said the House aide, who asked not to be identified.
Directors spying for the CCP could gain dangerous knowledge of a company’s “pressure points” should the authorities wish to exploit them, the source said.
The new laws also include stricter “registered capital” requirements for company executives and greater liability for officers in cases of misconduct or negligence.
It’s the latest effort by President Xi Jinping’s government to exert more control over foreign businesses, according to Paul Rosenzweig, a former Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary.
“In the past, they’ve done so in ways that I would characterize as external — that is, government acting upon a corporation,” said Rosenzweig. “Now they’re adding an internal control, an employee representative. If you wanted to be ungenerous, you could call him a Communist Party spy.”
While China’s corporate law overhaul applies to many companies, Microsoft has been in the spotlight — not only because it has more than 10,000 employees working there, but because its software is deeply embedded in America’s critical infrastructure.
Microsoft, which declined to comment for this article, has expanded operations in China even as other Big Tech firms like Google and Meta have dialed down their presence in the region. The company has sought to downplay China-related security concerns.
When asked by Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) in June if the company follows a 2017 law requiring companies to cooperate with the CCP’s intelligence services, Microsoft executive Brad Smith said no — and hinted that the company was somehow exempt.
Lawmakers have called on MIcrosoft to pull back from China. Bloomberg via Getty Images
“There are two types of countries in the world. Those that apply every law they enact, and those who enact certain laws but don’t always apply them. And in this context, China, and that law, is in the second category,” Smith said.
Gimenez was unconvinced by Smith’s explanation — and told The Post that he is particularly concerned about China’s revised company law.
“Sooner rather than later, all of these corporations are going to find that they’re going to be absorbed into the CCP and into China,” Gimenez said. “The sooner they start to extricate themselves from China, the better they’re going to be, but also the better America is going to be.”
Microsoft has reportedly considered shutting down a pair of AI labs in China over perceived risks — including concerns that China could hack the facilities, steal sensitive technology or poach key employees to build its own rival firms.
The corporate law is one method through which China “could put pressure on them to keep the AI lab,” according to the House aide.
“More realistically, they’re not going to do that. What they’re going to do is just steal all the data, every single bit of data,” the aide added.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of House Select Committee on China, said in a statement that there is “no such thing as a private company in China.”
“I caution all Americans conducting business in China — the Chinese Communist Party will settle for nothing less than complete control at your expense,” Moolenaar added. “‘Worker representatives’ are a blatant attempt by the CCP to embed Party officials in U.S. companies.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Congress has “long known that Beijing will steal confidential business information and technology from companies operating in China.”
“Beijing’s latest move which will likely embed CCP officials further into companies shows how far the government’s grasp extends,” Blackburn told The Post.
The board representative clause is “certainly another risk factor” for Western firms, according to Jonathan Bench, an expert on Chinese corporate law and partner at Harris Sliwoski.
“I absolutely expect CCP members to be chosen by ‘democratic election’ in which employees vote,” Bench said. “And where a CCP member is not directly chosen, the designated employee representative will certainly be reporting in detail to one or more CCP cadres inside or outside the company — or both.”
It’s unlikely that Microsoft or other firms like it will be able to dodge the law, according to Bench.
Some experts argue that concerns about China’s corporate law shakeup are overblown.
Adam Channer, a lawyer at Kirton McConkie with expertise in international investment, said the employee director rule would be a “clumsy tool” to enable CCP oversight of Western businesses — and noted the law, as written, does not require the director to be a CCP member.
The bigger issue, according to Derek Scissors, chief economist of the China Beige Book, is that US firms like Microsoft have “voluntarily subjected themselves to a completely warped and discriminatory market.”
“The company law will be interpreted in whatever way the CCP deems fit at the time, so none of the revisions matter,” said Scissors.
Here is a pdf of CCP infiltration into US Companies, seemingly last updated in 2019. Apparently, China doesn't like companies that recognize Taiwan as a “country”, successfully pressuring them to either apologize or take down their posts.
Wasn't it Vladimir Lenin who said "The capitalist will sell you the rope with which to hang him" ....applies today. Pax
More than likely already happened years ago.