DOJ charges Southern California mayor for acting as agent for Chinese government
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ARCADIA, Calif. - The mayor of Arcadia has been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with acting as an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China (PRC), officials announced on Monday. She will also resign from office.
Mayor resigns
What we know:
Mayor Eileen Wang, 58, has been charged with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government, according to a US DOJ press release.
Federal officials say Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony count. Officials say she faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
"Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. "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."
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, said Wang appeared in a downtown Los Angeles U.S. District Court Monday afternoon for her arraignment. In addition to agreeing to plead guilty, she also agreed to resign from office.
Former mayor of Arcadia, Eileen Wang.
"Wang admitted to acting as a foreign agent from at least 2020 through 2022," Essayli's social media post read. "At the direction of the PRC government, she coordinated with individuals to promote PRC interests by spreading pro-PRC propaganda in the United States."
Essayli added that Wang undermined democracy by doing the bidding of a foreign government.
Wang was elected in November 2022 to the Arcadia City Council, a five-person governing body from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis.
"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," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
City manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a news release that no city finances or staff were involved.
"We want to be clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022," he said.
Wang's attorneys Jason Liang and Brian Sun said in a statement that she recognizes the seriousness of the charge and accepts responsibility for "past personal mistakes."
"She apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life," Wang's attorneys said in a statement. "Her love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver."
Arcadia is located about 13 miles (21 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles. The city of about 53,000 is majority Asian and has a high concentration of Chinese residents.
Dig deeper:
Federal officials say Wang collaborated with Yaoning "Mike" Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, on a website aimed at the Chinese-American community called U.S. News Center, at the direction of the PRC. The website promoted Chinese government propaganda, according to the U.S. DOJ.
Sun is already serving a four-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in Oct. 2025 to acting as an illegal agent to a foreign government, the U.S. DOJ said. The Chinese government allegedly contacted Wang and others through WeChat, an encrypted messaging app, to share pre-written articles that Wang would then post on her own website.
Wang has also communicated with John Chen, who also pleaded guilty to being an agent for the Chinese government and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations is now looking into Wang's ties to China.
What's next:
At its next meeting, Arcadia's city council will select a mayor and a mayor Pro Tem from among the remaining councilmembers. They will also begin to discuss how Arcadia's District 3 will be represented until the next election cycle in November 2026.
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