Eileen Wang, the Arcadia town leader accused of being an illegal foreign agent for China, resigned Monday after reaching a plea deal.
Wang, who served as mayor of the San Gabriel Valley suburb, entered into a plea deal with prosecutors on charges that he worked under the control of the People’s Republic of China to promote propaganda in the US between 2020 and 2022, according to court filings.
Wang, who had previously been elected to the City Council in November 2022, resigned as mayor on Monday hours after the bid deal closed. Arcadia officials said the conduct described by federal authorities occurred before Wang’s election.
His lawyers declined to comment on the charges. Wang appeared in federal court in Los Angeles during a brief hearing on Monday, where a judge ordered his lawyers to set a date for him to formally enter a plea.
The maximum sentence for this offense is ten years in prison.
Dressed in a blue suit jacket and skirt and accompanied by four lawyers, Wang listened to the proceedings through a Mandarin translator. He sniffed both ears, wiping his eyes and nose with his hand and a tissue.
A magistrate judge ordered a $25,000 bond and that he surrender all his passports and travel documents. Asst. US Atty. Amanda B. Elbogen asked that the judge order Wang to avoid any contact with the Chinese government, including diplomatic officials in the US.
“Individuals in our country who subvert requests from foreign governments are undermining our democracy,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement Monday. “This plea agreement is the latest achievement in our determination to protect the country from China’s efforts to undermine our institutions.”
Wang’s name was removed from the list of Arcadia City council members after the charges were announced.
“We understand that this news raises serious concerns, and we want to speak directly with our community about what we know and where we stand,” City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a statement. “The main allegations in this case, that a foreign government wanted to use an elected official in the area, are very troubling. We take them seriously.”
From late 2020 until at least 2022, Wang worked with Yaoning “Mike” Sun, his ex-wife, to run a website called the US News Center that claimed to be a news source for Chinese Americans, according to the plea agreement unsealed Monday. Both Wang and Sun “used instructions” from Chinese government officials, posting requested articles and reporting with screenshots showing how many people viewed the stories, the agreement said.
On June 10, 2021, the agreement says, Wang received a message from a government official about “China’s Position on the Xinjiang Issue,” which 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. The attorney general was responding to a Times article supporting a boycott of cotton products produced in China’s Xinjiang region.
At the time, news reports highlighted the Chinese government’s campaign to arrest, persecute and “re-educate” Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.
“There is no genocide in Xinjiang; there is no such thing as ‘forced labor’ in any production work, including cotton production. Spreading such rumors is defaming China, destroying the security and stability of Xinjiang,” reads a message from a Chinese government official, according to the plea agreement.
Minutes after receiving the link, Wang posted the article on his website and responded to a Chinese government official with a link to the article on his website, according to the court.
“Very quickly, thank you everyone,” the official replied, court records show.
Prosecutors also said Wang edited the articles at the request of officials and shared information indicating access to the posts.
“Thank you leader,” he wrote on August 20, 2021, after being praised for a post that had been viewed more than 15,000 times, according to the plea agreement.
Wang never disclosed that the Chinese government ordered him to post the content, according to court documents.
Prosecutors charged Sun, a resident of Chino Hills, in December 2024 with conspiracy and acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Wang said his relationship with Sun will end in the spring of 2024.
Sun also served as campaign manager for his City Council campaign to lead Arcadia, a destination for many Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants. Prosecutors accuse Sun and his Chinese government contacts of cultivating Wang in the hope that he will rise in politics and help them strengthen China’s influence in California.
“We broke up with the boyfriend,” Wang told the City Council after being indicted. “We remain friends.”
The sun was like that you are condemned in February to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
Sun acted as an unofficial agent of the People’s Republic of China, delivering reports to senior government officials about work he was doing on behalf of the government, according to the federal sentencing memorandum. This work included combating Falun Gong, a spiritual practice banned in China, and Taiwan independence supporters. Sun has also been accused of monitoring the former president of Taiwan during his April 2023 trip to the US.
Facing demands for his resignation following the indictment of his ex-husband, Wang vowed at the time that he would not leave the council, insisting that he was “not responsible for the actions of others.”
Wang said in a 2024 interview that he moved to Southern California from China 30 years ago. His mother was a Chinese medicine and acupuncturist and his father was a doctor in Sichuan province before working at USC, he said.
Four other Arcadia city council members did not respond to a request for comment. Wang appeared as usual at last week’s city council meeting, shepherding discussions about paving, the upcoming budget and a potential e-bike ordinance. Lazzaretto, the city manager, said in a statement that the city conducted an internal review related to the charges and found no wrongdoing.
“We can confirm that no City funds, personnel, or decision-making processes are involved,” Lazzaretto said in a statement. “We have not found any actions that require reconsideration or are invalid because of these changes.”
Clara Harter contributed to this report.
