Deliberations in the bribery trial against Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, ended in a mistrial Monday after jurors said they were deadlocked on all 19 counts against Sun and her husband, Chris Hu.
“Your Honor, after extensive deliberations and re-deliberations, the jury remains unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The jurors positions are firmly held,” the panel, which began deliberating on Dec. 12 and then restarted with an alternate on Monday morning, wrote to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan of the Eastern District of New York.
Sun, 42, was accused of taking gifts and benefits worth millions of dollars in exchange for working as a Chinese agent, including by facilitating communications between New York state officers and Chinese government officials; organizing Chinese government officials’ visits to the U.S.; and blocking Taiwanese officials from meeting with New York’s governors.
The payoff, prosecutors say, included lucrative business deals, travel perks and lavish trappings like a $2 million Honolulu condominium and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a Chinese government official’s personal chef.
“Linda Sun was all about the money. The PRC government knew this, and it kept her on the line with a steady stream of presents, favors and helping hands,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon told the jury during closing arguments.
Prosecutors indicted Sun and Hu in 2024 on charges of acting as agents of the People’s Republic of China in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, plus visa fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
A year later they tacked on charges related to a ran an alleged pandemic-era fraud scheme, accusing Sun of taking kickbacks while steering millions in contracts to her husband and cousin.
Throughout the trial, which began on Nov. 10, the government called 41 witnesses. The defense called eight witnesses.
Solomon told Cogan the government wants to retry the case “as soon as possible.”
Sun’s attorney, Jarrod Schaeffer of the firm Abell Eskew Landau, said his client maintains her innocence.
“The government should seriously reconsider an attempt to proceed to trial again in this matter,” the Bracewell attorneys said in a statement.
