Eileen Wang, former Arcadia mayor pleads guilty to secretly acting as agent for Chinese government

Former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang pleaded guilty on Friday (May 29) to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, admitting she promoted Beijing-backed content in the United States without notifying federal authorities. Wang, 56, resigned as mayor of the Southern California city earlier this month after being charged in April with acting in the United States on behalf of a foreign government. Prosecutors said she worked to advance the interests of Chinese officials by sharing articles favorable to Beijing while failing to register her activities as required under US law.

Wang was elected to Arcadia's five-member City Council in November 2022, with the mayoral position rotating among council members. Federal authorities said her illegal activities took place between late 2020 and 2022, before she took office. Located about 13 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Arcadia has a population of approximately 53,000 residents and a majority Asian demographic, including a large Chinese community.

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During a hearing in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, Wang formally entered her guilty plea before US District Judge Wesley Hsu. A Mandarin interpreter attended the proceedings, although Wang indicated she did not require translation assistance. She was allowed to remain free on a $25,000 bond ahead of her sentencing scheduled for October 6. Wang faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Wang and her former fiancé, Yaoning ‘Mike’ Sun, worked on behalf of officials from the People's Republic of China by promoting government-friendly narratives through a website known as US News Center. Sun is currently serving a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the same charge in October 2025. Campaign records also identified him as the treasurer of Wang’s successful 2022 City Council campaign.

One example highlighted by prosecutors occurred in June 2021 when a Chinese government official sent Wang a Los Angeles Times opinion piece written by China's consul general in Los Angeles. The article disputed allegations regarding the treatment of Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region, saying, "There has never been genocide in Xinjiang or forced labor in the region’s cotton fields or any other sector."

Prosecutors said Wang shared the article on her website within minutes of receiving it. The United States and several allied nations have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, allegations Beijing has repeatedly denied. Wang’s attorneys said she was engaged to Sun during the period in question but that the relationship ended in spring 2024. Following her resignation, her legal team released a statement attributing her actions to her trust and love for apparently the wrong person, who ultimately led her astray.

The case sparked controversy in Arcadia, with some residents and former elected officials arguing Wang should have resigned once she became linked to the FBI investigation involving Sun. Acting Mayor Paul Cheng defended the council's handling of the matter, saying local officials lacked the legal authority to remove Wang before a criminal conviction. "If there is a federal investigation that is in place, we are not investigators, and to politicize an issue only impacts whatever federal investigation is out there," Cheng said.