Eileen Wang, the 58-year old mayor of Arcadia, California has plead guilty to federal charges that accused the public official of acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.
Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang has been charged with violating 18 USC 951, acting in the United States as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China.
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) May 11, 2026
Wang appeared in federal court this afternoon for her arraignment. She agreed to plead guilty and resign from public office.… pic.twitter.com/toYWJ7htvG
🚨CASE UPDATE from @FBILosAngeles: Arcadia, California, Mayor Federally Charged with Acting as Illegal Agent of the People’s Republic of China
— FBI (@FBI) May 11, 2026
Eileen Wang has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). From late 2020… pic.twitter.com/xespi8DizV
NEW: Arcadia, California, mayor Eileen Wang charged with acting as an illegal agent of China.
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) May 11, 2026
NEW: The Democrat mayor of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal foreign agent for communist China.
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) May 11, 2026
According to her plea agreement, from late 2020 through 2022, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, California,… pic.twitter.com/87M0ARxqiq
Authorities say that Wang had “worked at the direction and control of PRC government officials and coordinated with U.S.-based individuals to promote the PRC’s interests by, among other things, promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States.”
Prior to Wang’s election to the Arcadia City Council in November of 2022, authorities say that Wang had been contacted by members of the Communist Party of China to spread propaganda through “pre-written news articles” that she would then upload to her own news website.
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg in a press release. “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.”
Wang’s guilty plea means that she could face up to the statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
