Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, resigned Monday after the U.S. Department of Justice announced she had agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
Ms. Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count and turned in her resignation at Arcadia City Hall early Monday morning. She faces a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.
According to a Justice Department press release, Ms. Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun worked from late 2020 through 2022 at the direction of Chinese government officials to promote pro-Beijing messaging in the United States. Among their platforms was the U.S. News Center, which purported to be a news source for Southern California’s Chinese American community while publishing content directed by officials from the People’s Republic of China.
Federal prosecutors say Ms. Wang received and executed directives from PRC government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website, and sometimes sought approval from PRC government officials to circulate other pro-PRC content, never disclosing that some of the site’s content had been posted at the direction of Chinese government officials.
In one example from June 2021, prosecutors said PRC officials contacted Ms. Wang through encrypted WeChat messages to deliver pre-written news articles. Minutes later, she posted the article on her own website and responded to the PRC official with a link. A short time later, the PRC official replied, “So fast, thank you everyone.” One of those articles denied allegations of forced labor and human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the plea agreement was “the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China’s efforts to corrupt our institutions,” adding that individuals who “covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy.”
Ms. Wang was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. Arcadia is located about 13 miles northeast of Los Angeles and has a high concentration of Chinese residents.
Ms. Wang faces up to 10 years in federal prison, along with a potential $250,000 fine, though any sentence would be determined by a federal judge. She is expected to formally enter her guilty plea in the coming weeks as the FBI investigation continues.
Ms. Wang agreed to a plea deal last month, but it was unsealed Monday. Her attorneys said in a statement that she “apologises and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life” and that her “love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver.”
Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a statement posted to the city’s website that the allegations were “deeply troubling” and that the city took them seriously. City officials noted the charged conduct occurred before Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022, and said they were confident there was no vulnerability for the city or its residents. At its next meeting, the Arcadia City Council will select a new mayor and mayor pro tem from among the remaining council members.
Sun, Ms. Wang’s former fiance and co-operator of the U.S. News Center site, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to a separate charge of acting as an illegal foreign agent for China.
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