The mayor of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge alleging she acted as a foreign agent for the Chinese government by disseminating propaganda on Beijing's behalf, U.S. officials said. Arcadia is a Los Angeles suburb with a large Chinese-American population.
Within hours of the court filing becoming public, Wang, 58, resigned from Arcadia's city council and relinquished the mayoral role she had taken on in February as part of a rotating system, the city manager's office said. She made a brief appearance before a federal magistrate judge, who directed the parties to set a date for a future hearing when Wang will formally enter her plea. Bond was set at $25,000. The proceeding was conducted through a Mandarin interpreter.
The plea agreement, a 19-page document filed on April 1 and unsealed with the charging document, states that Wang agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of acting as an agent of the Chinese government without notifying the U.S. Justice Department, a requirement for foreign agents. The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.
In announcing the case, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said: "Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy."
According to the plea agreement, Wang admitted that from late 2020 through 2022 she promoted propaganda favorable to China "at the direction and control" of Chinese government officials. That time frame includes the period when she was elected to a four-year term on the Arcadia city council.
Prosecutors say Wang helped operate a website called the "U.S. News Center," which the filing describes as presenting itself as a legitimate news source for the predominantly ethnic Chinese local community, but in fact functioning as a mouthpiece for the Beijing government. The court documents allege Wang received and followed directives from Chinese government officials to post pro-China content, including articles that disputed reports of human rights abuses against ethnic Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region.
Responding to a complimentary text message from a Chinese government official acknowledging her work, Wang replied "Thank you leader," the plea agreement says.
The agreement also details Wang's close working relationship with an associate named Yaoning "Mike" Sun, whom she had publicly described at one time as her fiance and who was briefly listed as a campaign finance adviser. Sun, 65, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and was sentenced in February to four years in prison.
Prosecutors further allege one of Wang's contacts with the Beijing government was a Chinese Communist Party figure named John Chen, described in court documents as a high-level member of China's intelligence apparatus who met personally with Chinese President X Jinping. Chen pleaded guilty in a similar case and was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in prison, the filing said.
A statement from Wang's attorneys said she "apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life."
City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto issued a separate statement noting that the federal charge relates to "conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022." The city manager's statement also said "no city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved."
Next steps in the case include scheduling the hearing where Wang will formally enter her guilty plea. The plea agreement and the unsealing of the charging document set in motion the federal court process that could lead to sentencing under the statute that allows for up to a 10-year maximum term.
The filings tie Wang's case to a string of related prosecutions involving individuals alleged to have acted as agents of the Chinese government. Those prior cases and sentences are referenced in the court documents as context for the charges against Wang and her cooperator Sun.
The city has emphasized that, according to its statement, the conduct at issue ended when Wang took office and that municipal operations were not implicated. Wang's attorneys have framed her actions as mistakes in her personal life and expressed remorse in a formal statement.
The federal criminal process will determine the specific penalties following entry of the plea and any sentencing proceedings that may follow.