A California mayor has stepped down from office after agreeing to plead guilty to federal charges for secretly working as a propaganda agent for the Chinese government, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Eileen Wang, 58, who served as mayor of Arcadia, California, resigned from both her city council seat and mayoral position within hours of the charges becoming public. The city, located near Los Angeles, has a large Chinese-American population.
During a brief federal court appearance conducted with a Mandarin interpreter, Wang was released on $25,000 bond while attorneys schedule a future hearing for her formal guilty plea. The charge of acting as an unregistered foreign agent carries a potential 10-year federal prison sentence.
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” stated U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli when announcing the case.
Court documents reveal that Wang admitted to promoting Chinese government propaganda between late 2020 and 2022 while serving on Arcadia’s city council. She helped operate a website called the “U.S. News Center” that appeared to be a legitimate news source for the local Chinese community but actually served as a Beijing government mouthpiece.
Federal prosecutors say Wang followed instructions from Chinese officials to publish pro-China content, including articles that disputed reports of human rights violations against Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region. When a Chinese government official praised her work via text message, Wang responded “Thank you leader,” according to court filings.
Wang collaborated with Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, whom she previously described as her fiancé and campaign finance adviser. Sun received a four-year prison sentence in February after pleading guilty to similar charges in October 2025.
The case also involves John Chen, described by prosecutors as a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party intelligence official who had personal meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chen was sentenced to 20 months in prison in November 2024 for related charges.
Wang’s legal team issued a statement saying she “apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life.”
City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto clarified that the federal charges relate to “conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022” and emphasized that “no city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved.”
