ARCADIA—On May 11, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, issued a press release announcing that federal charges were filed against Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang, 58, for acting as an illegal agent for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the federal charges filed against her and is facing a maximum prison sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
She has been charged in federal court with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent for a foreign government.
Wang has served as Mayor of Arcadia since 2022, when she was chosen to be one of five people in a governing body who serve as Mayor on a rotation basis.
Wang’s plea agreement from 2020-2022 indicates that Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65 of Chino Hills coordinated with other U.S. based individuals to promote the interests of the PRC. Yaoning is currently serving a four-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent in a foreign government.
The PRC was reportedly in communication with the PRC in June 2021 via WeChat encrypted messaging with John Chen and other high-level members of the PRC, attended the PRC functions and reportedly personally met with PRC President Xi Jinping. Chen was also sentenced to 20 months in federal prison.
The First Assistant United States Attorney, Bill Essayli stated the following.
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding for foreign governments undermine our democracy. This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China’s efforts to corrupt our institutions.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John A. Eisenberg said,
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent. 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.”
Assistant FBI Director of Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, Roman Rozhavsky said, “By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government. Let this serve as a clear warning:
Individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice. Protecting the rule of law and the transparency of our democratic process remains at the core of the FBI’s mission, and we will continue working alongside out partners to safeguard the integrity of our elections and keep hostile actors from undermining the voices of the American people.”
“All Americans should be alarmed to learn an elected official was brazenly spreading propaganda on behalf of the Chinese government. The FBI is dedicated to rooting out those illegally acting as agents of the foreign government as they do the bidding of American adversaries.— FBI, Assistant Director in Charge, Los Angeles, Patrick Grundy.
