Former California mayor admits acting as China agent, US officials say | Crime Stories

The former mayor of an affluent Los Angeles suburb promoted Chinese propaganda at the behest of Chinese officials, critics say.

The former mayor of a wealthy Los Angeles city in the United States has admitted to acting as an illegal agent in China, according to government officials.

Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, pleaded guilty to one count of illegal activity with a foreign government from late 2020 to 2022, the US Department of Justice said Monday.

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Wang admitted that he did not inform the US government that he was representing China while promoting Beijing’s propaganda, the Justice Department said.

Wang, 58, operated a website called the US News Center, which published material supporting the People’s Republic of China (PRC) while trying to provide news to Chinese Americans, the department said.

Wang ran the website with Yaoning Sun, a California man who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to being a foreign agent in October 2025, according to US judges.

Wang’s actions included republishing an “article written by PRC officials” that denied allegations of Chinese government abuses against Uighurs in the remote western region of Xinjiang, according to critics.

Wang resigned as mayor on Monday, according to a statement published on the City of Arcadia website.

He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

His lawyers, Brian A Sun and Jason Liang, said Wang wanted to apologize for “the mistakes he made in his life”.

“It is important to note, however, that the behavior that has knowledge and cooperation with the government is related to Ms. Wang’s personal life – for example, the media platform she once worked with a person believed to be her boyfriend – and not her behavior as a government official,” Sun and Liang said in a statement.

“His love and commitment to the Arcadia community has never wavered and has never changed,” he added.

“He’s asking for the community’s understanding and continued support.”

US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg issued a statement expressing deep concern about Wang’s actions.

“People who are elected to public office in the United States must serve the people of the United States they represent,” he said.

“It is very concerning that a person who once received and gave instructions from the PRC government officials is now trusted by the public, especially since their relationship with a foreign government has not been disclosed.”

China’s embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wang’s prosecution comes as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in Beijing on Wednesday for a summit expected to focus on the US-Israel war against Iran, trade, and the status of Taiwan, among other issues.

The meeting comes after the two leaders agreed to take a year-long break from their trade war at a summit in South Korea last October.