FBI Director Kash Patel is speaking out about the new bribery charges tied to a former aide to Governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, all connected to a shady PPE (personal protective equipment) scheme that exploded during the pandemic.
That aide, Linda Sun, is now facing even more serious allegations. Not only is she accused of taking part in a massive fraud operation, but also of secretly working as a foreign agent for Communist China.
It’s a case that has the Trump administration raising red flags about just how deep the disloyalty runs inside America’s political machine. Patel says the FBI won’t let it slide.
“While Americans were locked down and desperate for PPE, Linda Sun and Chris Hu cashed in – allegedly lining their pockets while serving CCP interests,” Patel wrote on X. “This is corruption that endangered lives. The FBI will not tolerate public officials who sell out their country.”
Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, allegedly pulled in close to $8 million in dirty money after Sun helped arrange pandemic equipment contracts between New York and two China-based vendors. She had already been linked to a COVID kickback scheme worth millions. Now prosecutors say she also falsified paperwork that claimed the vendors were approved by Chinese officials.
Even worse, they say her husband kept track of the couple’s expected profits in a spreadsheet simply labeled “Me.”
“While Americans were locked down and desperate for PPE, Linda Sun and Chris Hu cashed in – allegedly lining their pockets while serving CCP interests,” Patel wrote on X.
Back when the pandemic first hit, Sun was involved in securing PPE for the state of New York. Using her political influence and ties to the Chinese government, she made sure critical supplies were delivered. But according to prosecutors, she rigged the process.
On March 20, she allegedly took a vendor list sent by the Jiangsu Department of Commerce, removed the top recommended supplier, and replaced it with a company owned by her cousin. She even changed the language in the documents to call her cousin’s masks “the gold standard.”
From 2020 through 2021, prosecutors say that the company kicked back $2.3 million. The spreadsheet they found, maintained by Hu, showed the couple expected to make more than $8 million from the scam.
Sun was arrested back in September for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent of China, using her influence to push Beijing’s agenda in exchange for massive payouts. Her husband has been hit with separate charges for laundering the money through bank accounts opened under a family member’s name. Now, both of them are facing even more charges, including honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and bribery.
There was another case this month handled by Director Patel and the FBI that involved China.
Two Chinese nationals are facing multiple federal charges after allegedly smuggling a dangerous crop-destroying fungus into the United States, prompting serious national security concerns over potential agroterrorism.
According to a complaint, the individuals—Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34—are accused of bringing Fusarium graminearum into the country. The fungus is known to cause devastating plant diseases, particularly in corn, rice, and barley, and is considered a threat to the U.S. food supply.
The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., who said the two Chinese researchers face charges of conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, making false statements, and visa fraud.
Court documents reveal that one of the men had hidden samples of the fungus in his backpack while entering the U.S., a move federal authorities say could have had severe consequences for American agriculture.
“The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals — including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party — are of the gravest national security concerns,” Gorgon said in a statement.
“These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America,” he said.
