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“While Americans were locked down and desperate for PPE, Linda Sun and Chris Hu cashed in – allegedly lining their pockets while serving CCP interests,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in a fiery statement posted to X. “This is corruption that endangered lives. The FBI will not tolerate public officials who sell out their country.”
Investigators allege Sun forged official-looking documents from Chinese government authorities to push lucrative PPE deals through the New York bureaucracy. The scheme allegedly unfolded as COVID-19 ravaged the state, when hospitals and frontline workers faced terrifying shortages of masks, gloves, and other protective supplies.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella minced no words about the gravity of the alleged crimes.
“As alleged, Linda Sun not only acted as unregistered agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China, but also enriched herself to the tune of millions of dollars when New York State was at its most vulnerable at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nocella declared.
“When masks, gloves, and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits. We demand better from our public servants, and this Office will continue to hold accountable public officials who enrich themselves at the expense of the New York taxpayers,” he added.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia emphasized the impact on both public trust and public health.
“This alleged scheme not only created an unearned and undisclosed benefit for the defendants and their relatives, but it also exploited the state’s critical need for resources in a health crisis,” Raia said.
Federal officials stressed that this case is just one piece of a far broader crackdown on pandemic-era fraud, which has reportedly ballooned into the largest healthcare fraud investigation in American history.
According to FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the scale of fraud uncovered is staggering: “Public corruption will not be tolerated as the Director and I vigorously pursue bad actors who violated their oaths to all of us.”
Bongino elaborated on the scope of the probe:
“We view the theft of public funds the same way. It’s a crime against all of us. Today, in conjunction with the DOJ and our federal partners, we are announcing the results from the largest healthcare fraud investigation, as measured by financial losses, in DOJ history,” he said.
“The investigation spanned 50 federal districts, and resulted in nearly 3 billion dollars in false claims with over 15 million illegal distributions of pills. We seized 245 million dollars, we charged 324 defendants, 96 medical professionals, and the intended losses from these bad actors approached 15 billion dollars,” Bongino added.
“Results matter. Talk is cheap. And this is not even the beginning of the beginning. If you’re stealing from the public, or violating your oath to serve, then we’re coming for you too. God bless America, and all those who defend Her.”
Despite the torrent of damning accusations, Sun is fighting back through her legal team. Her attorney, Jarrod L. Schaeffer, insists that the government is overreaching in its prosecution.
“The newest allegations continue the government’s trend of making and publicizing feverish accusations unmoored from the facts and evidence that we expect will actually come out at trial,” Schaeffer told the New York Post.
The arrest of a high-level aide from New York’s Democrat power structure, coupled with alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party, is certain to spark fresh questions about how deeply foreign influence and opportunistic corruption may have penetrated American institutions during the pandemic.
One thing is clear: what began as a health emergency has spiraled into one of the most consequential corruption crackdowns in modern history—and the story of Linda Sun could be only the tip of the iceberg.
