Southern California Mayor Resigns After Pleading Guilty to Acting as a Foreign Agent for China
Eileen Wang was sworn in as mayor of Arcadia, California in February. She resigned in May after federal prosecutors announced she had agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
Wang, 58, is charged with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She faces up to 10 years in federal prison. Her plea has not yet been formally entered — she's expected to appear in court in the coming weeks.
Arcadia's city manager confirmed the resignation and said the city council will select a new mayor at its next meeting.
What She Actually Did
Between late 2020 and 2022 — before she was elected to the city council — Wang worked with a Chino Hills man named Yaoning "Mike" Sun to run a website called U.S. News Site, which presented itself as a community news outlet serving the area's Chinese American population. According to prosecutors, the site was actually used to post pro-China propaganda at the direction of Chinese government operatives.
The details in the plea agreement are specific. In June 2021 a Chinese government official sent Wang and others prewritten articles through a group chat on a messaging platform — including one that had been published in the Los Angeles Times as a letter to the editor rejecting claims of genocide in China's Xinjiang region. Wang posted the same article to her website.
In August 2021 she made edits to the article at the request of the Chinese official and sent back a link with a screenshot showing it had been viewed more than 15,000 times. The official responded "Great!" Wang replied "Thank you leader."
That exchange is now in federal court documents.
Sun, who served as Wang's city council campaign adviser and was described as her "close personal confidante," had already pleaded guilty to the same charge in October 2025 and is serving four years in prison. Sun had coordinated with Chinese officials to help push Wang as a political candidate — describing her to Beijing as a "new political star." After her election the two attended a meeting of people Sun described as a team "dedicated" to Chinese interests.
A third man connected to the operation, John Chen, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as an unregistered foreign agent and bribing an IRS agent.
The Part That Concerns Federal Officials Most
The conduct Wang admitted to took place between 2020 and 2022. She was sworn onto the Arcadia City Council in December 2022 — the same month the activity apparently stopped. She became mayor on a rotating basis in February 2026.
None of the city's finances, staff, or decision-making processes were found to be involved, according to the city manager. The council operates as a body and no single member holds unilateral authority, so no city actions are being reconsidered.
But the concern federal prosecutors raised goes beyond what happened during her brief time as mayor.
"It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all — but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.
She didn't disclose it when she ran for city council. She didn't disclose it when she was elevated to mayor. The relationship with Chinese government operatives that formed the basis of the federal charge was never made public until prosecutors made it public themselves.
Arcadia is a city of about 54,000 people roughly 15 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, with a population that is about 59% Asian American. It's not a major political hub. But what happened there — a local official quietly operating at the direction of a foreign government while presenting herself as a community representative — is exactly the kind of low-profile influence operation federal officials say they're increasingly concerned about.
"Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy," said First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli.
Wang has no attorney of record who could be reached for comment.
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