Eileen Wang, an Arcadia metropolis chief dealing with prices of appearing as an unlawful foreign agent of China, resigned Monday after reaching an settlement to resolve the federal case.
Wang, who served as mayor of the San Gabriel Valley suburb, entered right into a plea settlement with prosecutors over prices that she acted underneath the management of the Folks’s Republic of China to advertise propaganda within the U.S. between 2020 and 2022, in response to court docket filings.
Wang, who was beforehand elected to the Metropolis Council in November 2022, stepped down as mayor on Monday hours after the plea settlement was unsealed. Arcadia officers stated the conduct described by federal authorities occurred earlier than Wang was elected.
Her legal professionals declined to touch upon the fees. Wang appeared in federal court docket in downtown Los Angeles throughout a short listening to Monday, the place a decide instructed her legal professionals to set a date when she would formally enter a responsible plea.
The utmost sentence for the cost is 10 years in jail.
Wearing a blue swimsuit jacket and skirt and accompanied by 4 legal professionals, Wang listened to the continuing by means of a Mandarin interpreter. She sniffled all through the listening to, wiping at her eyes and her nostril with her hand and a tissue.
The Justice of the Peace decide ordered a $25,000 bond and for her to give up all her passports and journey paperwork. Asst. U.S. Atty. Amanda B. Elbogen requested that the decide order Wang to chorus from any communication with the Chinese authorities, together with consular officers within the U.S.
“People in our nation who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” stated First Assistant United States Lawyer Invoice Essayli in an announcement Monday. “This plea settlement is the newest success in our dedication to defend the homeland towards China’s efforts to deprave our establishments.”
Wang’s identify was wiped from the Metropolis of Arcadia’s listing of council members after the fees have been introduced.
“We perceive this information raises critical considerations, and we wish to be direct with our group about what we all know and the place we stand,” Metropolis Supervisor Dominic Lazzaretto stated in an announcement. “The allegations on the middle of this case, {that a} foreign authorities sought to exert affect over a neighborhood elected official, are deeply troubling. We take them severely.”
From late 2020 by means of at the least 2022, Wang labored with Yaoning “Mike” Solar, her former fiance, to run an internet site referred to as U.S. Information Middle that branded itself as a information supply for Chinese People, in response to the plea settlement unsealed Monday. Each Wang and Solar “executed directives” from Chinese authorities officers, posting requested articles and reporting again with screenshots exhibiting how many individuals seen the tales, the settlement says.
On June 10, 2021, the settlement says, Wang acquired a message from a authorities official about “China’s Stance on the Xinjiang Problem,” which included a hyperlink to a letter to the editor on the Los Angeles Instances from the consul common of the Folks’s Republic of China in Los Angeles. The consul common had been responding to a Instances editorial supporting a boycott of merchandise made with cotton produced within the Xinjiang area of China.
On the time, information reviews have been highlighting the Chinese authorities marketing campaign of incarceration, persecution and “reeducation” of Uyghurs within the Xinjiang province.
“There is no such thing as a genocide in Xinjiang; there isn’t a such factor as ‘compelled labor’ in any manufacturing exercise, together with cotton manufacturing. Spreading such rumor is to defame China, destroy Xinjiang’s security and stability,” learn the message from the Chinese authorities official, in response to the plea settlement.
Minutes after receiving the hyperlink, Wang posted the article on her web site and responded to the Chinese authorities official with a hyperlink to the article on her web site, in response to the court docket submitting.
“So quick, thanks everybody,” the federal government official responded, the court docket data present.
Prosecutors additionally say Wang edited articles on the request of officers and shared info exhibiting the attain of the posts.
“Thanks chief,” she wrote on Aug. 20, 2021, after being complimented for a publish that was seen greater than 15,000 occasions, in response to the plea settlement.
Wang by no means disclosed that the Chinese authorities had directed her to publish the content material, in response to court docket paperwork.
Prosecutors charged Solar, a resident of Chino Hills, in December 2024 with conspiracy and appearing as an unlawful agent of a foreign authorities. Wang stated her relationship with Solar ended within the spring of 2024.
Solar had additionally served as marketing campaign supervisor for her Metropolis Council marketing campaign to guide Arcadia, a touchdown spot for a lot of Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants. Prosecutors accused Solar and his Chinese authorities contacts of cultivating Wang in hopes that she would rise in politics and assist them strengthen China’s affect in California.
“We broke up the fiance relationship,” Wang instructed the Metropolis Council after he was charged. “We hold the friendship.”
Solar was sentenced in February to 4 years in federal jail after pleading responsible in October 2025 to at least one depend of appearing as an unlawful agent of a foreign authorities.
Solar labored as an unlawful agent for the Folks’s Republic of China, submitting reviews to high-level authorities officers about work he was doing on the federal government’s behalf, in response to a federal sentencing memorandum. This exercise included combating Falun Gong, a non secular apply banned in China, and supporters of Taiwanese independence. Solar additionally was accused of monitoring the then-president of Taiwan throughout her April 2023 journey to the U.S.
Dealing with requires her resignation on the heels of her former fiance’s indictment, Wang vowed on the time to not step away from the council, emphasizing that she was “not liable for the motion of others.”
Wang stated in a 2024 interview that she moved to Southern California from China 30 years in the past. Her mom was a Chinese medication and acupuncture physician and her father was a doctor in Sichuan province earlier than working at USC, she stated.
The 4 different Arcadia metropolis council members didn’t reply to a request for remark. Wang appeared as regular eventually week’s metropolis council assembly, shepherding alongside discussions on road paving, the upcoming price range and a possible e-bike ordinance. Lazzaretto, the town supervisor, stated in his assertion that the town has carried out an inner evaluate associated to the fees and discovered no wrongdoing.
“We are able to verify that no Metropolis funds, employees, or decision-making processes have been concerned,” Lazzaretto stated in an announcement. “We’ve discovered no actions that require reconsideration or which are invalidated because of this of these developments.”
Clara Harter contributed to this report.
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