Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China, with prosecutors saying she promoted Chinese government-directed propaganda in the U.S. between 2020 and 2022. Her deal was unsealed earlier this month, and she st
The day Eileen Wang’s plea agreement became public, Arcadia didn’t react with quiet legal concern—it turned furious.
Hours after the deal was unsealed earlier this month. the former mayor stepped down as mayor of Arcadia. a post that rotates between City Council members. On Friday. Wang—56 and dressed in a black suit—entered her guilty plea in federal court in downtown Los Angeles. speaking mostly in short answers as the judge questioned her.
“Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty,” U.S. District Judge Wesley Hsu asked.
“Yes,” Wang said.
Wang now faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing on October 6. At the time of the hearing, she was out on a $25,000 bond, according to the court record.
Federal prosecutors charged Wang last month. and the plea agreement she accepted centers on allegations that she was directed by the Chinese government to promote propaganda in the United States between 2020 and 2022. Court filings also say Wang had agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China.
But when Wang’s agreement went public. Arcadia officials and Wang’s attorneys said the conduct described by federal authorities occurred before she took office. Wang was elected to the City Council in November 2022. then assumed the mayor’s role after that—an arrangement where the mayor’s job rotates among council members. Arcadia’s defense of timing was clear: the conduct, they said, happened before her tenure as mayor.
At the hearing, Judge Hsu also said that entering her guilty plea could prevent Wang from holding public office.
Before Wang’s appearance, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement that the case struck at more than one person. “Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” Essayli said. He called the plea agreement “the latest success” in what he described as efforts to defend the homeland against China’s attempts to corrupt U.S. institutions.
Court documents describe a method that prosecutors say was organized and measurable. From late 2020 through at least 2022. Wang worked with Yaoning “Mike” Sun. her former fiancé. to run a website called U.S. News Center. The site branded itself as a news source for Chinese Americans. The plea agreement says both Wang and Sun “executed directives” from Chinese government officials—posting requested articles and returning screenshots showing how many people viewed the stories.
Sun also pleaded guilty to secretly working for China and was sentenced this year to four years in prison.
One episode, detailed in the plea agreement, shows how quickly instructions moved through the process. On June 10. 2021. Wang received a message from a government official about “China’s Stance on the Xinjiang Issue.” The message included a link to a letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times from the consul general of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles.
That consul general had been responding to a Times editorial supporting a boycott of products made with cotton produced in Xinjiang. citing concerns about forced labor. At the time, news coverage highlighted the Chinese government’s campaign of incarceration, persecution, and “reeducation” of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
In the government message, the consul general rejected those claims, writing: “There is no genocide in Xinjiang; there is no such thing as ‘forced labor’ in any production activity, including cotton production. Spreading such rumor is to defame China, destroy Xinjiang’s safety and stability.”
Minutes after Wang received the link, prosecutors say she posted the article on her website and responded to the government official with a link to that post.
“So fast, thank you everyone,” the government official responded, the court records show.
Wang’s plea agreement also says she edited articles at the request of officials and shared information showing how widely the posts reached readers. On Aug. 20. 2021. after Wang was complimented for a post that was viewed more than 15. 000 times. she wrote. “Thank you leader. ” according to the filing.
Court documents say Wang never disclosed that the Chinese government had directed her to post the content.
Arcadia’s political backlash flared quickly once the plea deal became public.
On May 19, the city council met for the first time since the former mayor’s agreement was unsealed. Residents spilled into the meeting, demanding answers from the council majority. Tom Beck—described as a former Arcadia mayor—argued Wang should have been forced out after the FBI raided her home.
“Man up and apologize to the residents of Arcadia for letting this happen,” Beck said. He told the council he believed that if someone on the City Council is tied to a case like that, the “lights start flashing red.”
Others directed their anger at the three men on council: David Fu, Paul Cheng, and Michael Cao. Residents accused them of protecting Wang while ignoring calls from Councilmember Sharon Kwan to hold a public discussion about the criminal charges.
“How can your judgment be so profoundly compromised?” resident Steve Rhee said. “You guys lied to us. You pulled back the Asian community by 20 years. Shame on you.”
Dominic Lazzaretto, the city manager, emphasized that the council had no power to boot Wang unless she’d been convicted of a crime. He said they were kept in the dark about the investigation.
None of the council members directly addressed why they did not pressure Wang to resign as the case against her came into focus, according to the meeting record. Instead, they centered on the city’s need to bring unity as Arcadia braced for racist attacks.
Paul Cheng—now serving as mayor—told the room: “We will not surrender to fear.” He added that the town would “never allow the well in our town to be poisoned by outsiders.”
Wang’s plea now leaves those questions on the record, even as the legal timeline moves forward. She will be sentenced on October 6, facing up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China, court filings say.
Arcadia Eileen Wang foreign agent China illegal agent federal court Wesley Hsu Bill Essayli U.S. News Center Yaoning Mike Sun Xinjiang Los Angeles Times city council