In a significant turn of events, a judge announced a mistrial on Monday in the high-profile corruption trial involving Linda Sun, a former aide to Governors Cuomo and Hochul. The federal jury found itself at an impasse, unable to reach a conclusive verdict on the charges that Sun acted as an agent for China or engaged in fraudulent activities.
The jury in Brooklyn Federal Court was tasked with deliberating over 19 counts against Sun and her husband, Chris Hu. These charges ranged from acting as a foreign agent to wire and visa fraud, as well as tax evasion and money laundering. However, no consensus could be reached on any of these accusations.
“Your honor, after extensive deliberations and re-deliberations, the jury remains unable to reach a verdict. The jurors’ positions are firmly held,” stated a note submitted to Judge Brian Cogan on Monday afternoon, signaling the jury’s deadlock.
This development followed a month-long trial, with the jury deliberating for nearly five days. Complications arose last Thursday when one juror was excused due to holiday travel plans, prompting the judge to appoint one of the two alternate jurors. Despite this adjustment, the jury continued to struggle, expressing in a written communication to the judge, “we deeply feel that no progress can be made.”
Linda Sun has consistently proclaimed her innocence throughout the proceedings. Her attorney, Jarrod Schaeffer, reiterated this stance to the media on Monday, stating, “Throughout this trial, Linda Sun steadfastly maintained her innocence. That doesn’t change now. The inability of dedicated jurors to reach a unanimous verdict on all counts, despite days of conscientious deliberation, underscores how questionable and flawed these charges are.”
“Throughout this trial, Linda Sun steadfastly maintained her innocence. That doesn’t change now,” Sun’s lawyer, Jarrod Schaeffer told reporters Monday. “The inability of dedicated jurors to reach a unanimous verdict on all counts, despite days of unconscious deliberation underscores how questionable and flawed these charges are.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Solomon told Cogan the government wants to retry the case “as soon as possible,” and the judge set a status conference for Jan 26, with an eye toward a new trial in February.
Prosecutors painted the 41-year-old Sun as an opportunistic, greedy operator who steered New York’s official policy towards Chinese interests, preventing Taiwnese officials from meeting the governor, changing Albany’s messaging on issues important to China — and even forging Hochul’s signature on letters inviting Chinese officials to New York.
“You saw the picture of Linda Sun’s phone case. What does it say? ‘Get rich. Good luck,’” Solomon told jurors in his lengthy closing argument last week. “Linda Sun was all about the money. The (People’s Republic of China) government knew this, and it kept her on the line with a steady stream of presents, favors, and helping hands.”
Those perks included millions of dollars in business steered to her husband, Chris Hu, tickets to events and, on several occasions, a specially-prepared salted duck dish made by the private chef of the head of China’s New York consulate, prosecutors said.
“I want to eat salted duck,” she texted consulate chief Huang Ping on July 28, 2021. “Next time Ambassador Huang, please give me an award. China-U.S. Friendship Award.”
The feds said she laundered those kickbacks to pay for Sun’s $3.6 million Manhasset home, a $1.9 million condo in Honolulu and luxury vehicles, including a 2024 Ferrari Roma, the feds allege. They also accused her of steering $35 million in state contracts to two PPE vendors run by a cousin and her husband at the height of the COVID pandemic.
Sun’s legal team has maintained that she was just doing her job as a liaison in the governor’s office.
“There’s no smoking gun,” Sun’s lawyer, Kenneth Abell, said in his closing argument.
Abell scoffed at the idea that Sun would sell out to China for some plates of salted duck.
“To say that the Linda did what the government said she did for salted ducks his as absurd as it sounds,” Abell said.
Sun started working in the governor’s office in 2012, as then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s liaison to local Asian American communities, specifically in Queens.
In Sept. 2021, a month after Cuomo resigned amid allegations he sexually harassed several women, Sun was tapped to become Hochul’s deputy chief of staff. She left the job in November 2022 to work as a deputy commissioner in the New York Department of Labor before her firing in March 2023.
When vice consul Li Lihua asked Sun to get Cuomo to record a Lunar New Year video in 2021, Sun recommended Hochul would be a better fit, and asked for talking points that the lieutenant governor could include, text records show.
After the video was done, Sun mused about Hochul in a Jan. 25, 2021 text, “She is much more obedient than the governor.”
