The FBI has accused the mayor of a Los Angeles suburb of spying for China: she faces up to 10 years in prison
CNN reports this.
Eileen Wang was elected mayor of Arcadia in November 2022. In April 2026, she was accused of acting as an agent of a foreign government on US soil.
The case relates to her activities prior to her appointment as mayor. Arcadia’s city manager, Dominic Lazaretto, emphasised that neither city finances nor staff are involved in the case.
“We want to make it clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges relate to actions that ceased after Ms Wang was sworn in in December 2022,” said Lazaretto.
According to case documents, Wang and her colleague Yaoning Sun previously ran a news website targeting the Chinese-American community and, on behalf of Chinese government officials, posted pro-China content on it.
For example, in June 2021, a Chinese official sent Wang a letter to the editor written by the Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles. It refuted reports of forced labour in China and the mistreatment of Uyghurs in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.
Within minutes, Wang had published this letter on her news website.
Her colleague Sun is already serving a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the same charge in October 2025. Now Wang herself has agreed to plead guilty. This offence carries a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. On 11 May, she resigned from her post as mayor of Arcadia.
Her lawyers stated that Wang recognises the seriousness of the charge and takes responsibility for her “past personal mistakes”.
“She apologises and regrets the mistakes she made in her personal life. Her love and dedication to the Arcadia community have not changed or wavered,” her lawyers said.
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